I'm Yours
by Narcissus204
Summary: There's one main reason why Ferb Fletcher is rejecting every girl who asks him out: Vanessa Doofenshmirtz. A story about how love is the strongest bond between two people. /Ferbnessa with a slight of Phinabella/
1. Chapter 1

**Hi there! I present to you the first chapter of my very first FanFiction story. I hope you guys enjoy it (: I'm thinking about making this a looong story so wait for the next chapter soon okay?**

**Rated T for some details you will see later on ;)**

**NOTE: I do not own P&amp;F**

* * *

Chapter 1

Monday morning. He rubbed his eyes trying to wake up properly after being annoyed with a very disturbing hammer noise. It was that time of the day when Ferb Fletcher realized he was still living with his best friend and step-brother, Phineas Flynn. They were settled in a great looking apartment very close to their college, Tri-State State. It was big enough to settle around five more people in there, but that way they could just keep all their old inventions they did when they were kids. Ferb saw his brother working on what it appeared to be a project for school, he knew Phineas could've spent the entire night working on it without even realizing, pointing out how oblivious he was.

Phineas heard his brother waking up and turned around. "Hey, bro! Did I wake you up?" he said. Ferb just gave him a displeased look and before he could say anything, Phineas continued.

"Sorry Ferb, I'm just giving the last touches to this 'baby' right here" He pointed out his new invention and turned his head to the window. "I didn't even notice when it dawned, by the way, what time is it?"

Ferb, now standing up, was already grabbing his clothes to get ready when he just pointed the clock on the drawer, letting Phineas know that it was about time to get going.

"Oh boy! It's so late! I promised Isabella I would be picking her up 20 minutes ago, she is going to kill me!" Phineas said while running all over his room looking for a pair of jeans and a shirt to wear. He made his way to the bathroom and watched Ferb doing the same thing. He pushed his brother out of his way and entered before Ferb could do it.

Ferb sighed and couldn't help to smile after seeing Phineas acting so weird since he started dating Isabella. He sat on his bed while remembering the day his brother realized he had serious feelings for their beautiful and charming neighbor.

_Phineas was walking his way home from his evening classes when he saw some guys across the street making fun of a young lady for being part of the Fireside Girls Troop. Even though he knew a lot of girls that could be related with that, Phineas turned his head just to notice that it was Isabella García-Shapiro who was being bullied by those guys. Suddenly the normal, good nature Phineas Flynn started to feel the anger run all over his body, he felt the need to crack those guys' heads on the sidewalk and embrace Isabella for protection. He made his way and stood right in front of her. _

"_You better stay away from her" he said with a furious look on his face. Isabella, standing behind him, was trying to hold her tears fearing for what those guys could do to her loved one. The bullies laughed at Phineas and started to walk closer to them attempting to teach him a lesson. Before they could do anything, Phineas pressed a button on his watch and it threw a laser that made the guys disappear. _

"_Gee! That was a close one, don't you thi-" before he could finish, Phineas turned around and found Isabella hugging him tightly in gratitude, making him smile and hug her back. They separated from each other when their eyes met and everything in the background just went silent. He got lost in her big blue eyes and felt his heart rate increase like it had never done before, making his cheeks turn red. Isabella giggled by his reaction and without hesitation, placed her hands on his face and brought it closer to hers. They both closed their eyes as their lips met and sealed their love once and for all. When they broke the kiss, they realized Ferb was just standing across the street watching them with a smile on his face. He gave Phineas a thumbs up, in which he answered with a big smile._

They have been together now for 2 years and since then, Phineas has been trying to be the perfect boyfriend for her. Ferb knew that his brother could be the most confident, brave and creative person he have ever met, but when it comes to Isabella, he immediately becomes the clumsiest person in the whole Tri-state Area. Ferb was happy to see his brother acting this way for his girl, he knew that if he had that special someone he could fly to the moon and bring it down just for her.

* * *

"Please forgive me Izzy! I was working on my physics project and I didn't notice how late it was, I'm sorryyy!" Phineas said walking behind his girlfriend. Isabella sighed and without looking at him, answered.

"Phineas, honey, it is the third time you forget to come and pick me up at the time we agreed, you are always late" she said. Her eyes were about to drop some tears but she hold them. "It makes me think that you don't care enough about me..."

"Don't say that!" he said and stood in front of her grabbing her shoulders. She looked up. "Isabella, I promise I'll never be late again but please, PLEASE don't say that again, ever. You are the most important person in my life, okay?"

"I believe you" she smiled and kissed his cheek. "I love you"

"I love you too, Isabella"

"Hey, where's Ferb?"

* * *

After classes, Ferb stopped by his locker to grab some books he needed and his coat. 'Maybe I can stop by the coffee shop on my way home' he thought.

He closed his locker and found a person standing right by his side, a beautiful young lady with big blue eyes, glasses and brown hair. Ferb dared to look at her carefully, it was obvious she looked way too different than before.

"Gretchen" he said. The girl instantly blushed after hearing the British green-haired boy pronounce her name.

"Hello Ferb" she said and smiled. "I see that you are about to leave, and I was wondering if you were up to doing something tonight, you know, like a d-date".

His eyes widened in surprise. He saw the girl looking down her feet embarrassed on what she just asked. Ferb didn't show it, but he panicked for a few minutes without knowing what to do next. The last time he tried to date a girl it was a total disaster, even though he didn't say or do anything to mess it up, something inside him insisted it was a bad idea. He has known Gretchen since they were kids and he wouldn't like to mess up whatever kind of relationship they had. Suddenly after a few minutes of silence, she spoke up.

"I'm sorry, I should've guessed that you were already busy. I suppose you get this kind of requests every day." she mumbled without looking at him.

"Excuse me" Ferb said. He turned around and walked outside the building, leaving Gretchen alone. She felt like an idiot for even trying. When she decided to leave the aisle, someone behind her cleared his throat, making her turn her head back to see the green-haired boy holding a rose.

"I apologize for being rude, but it appears that I have unfinished business I need to get done back in my apartment," he said and walked a bit closer to her to place the flower in her hand. "Can we discuss this some other time?"

She sighed and took the flower. "Sure, Ferb, see you around." she said with a small grin and watched him leave. Her expression changed right after he walked out the front door.

"Hey girl! Whatcha doin'?...Gretchen?" Isabella said while she was coming near to her friend, "What's with the rose?"

"Ferb…" Gretchen sighed and lowered her head.

"Oh my god, Ferb gave you that flower!? That's great!"

Gretchen's tone got higher. "No, Isabella, it's not. I asked him out again and he gave me this so that I wouldn't feel bad with his rejection."

Isabella placed her hand on Gretchen's shoulder, trying to support her. She knew her friend had been in love with Ferb since they were young, but he never showed interest for her or for any girl in town.

"On the other hand," Gretchen looked back at the rose on her hand. "he has always been polite and charming when it comes to reject girls, not only me but all girls who have tried before". She smiled and glanced at Isabella. "Maybe there's a reason for that".

* * *

Something deep inside Ferb kept insisting over the years that he needed to focus on other stuff different than getting a girlfriend. It wasn't that he didn't care, he just couldn't get serious with someone who couldn't cause a spark in his heart. There has only been one person capable of causing his heart rate to increase in an accelerated time frame. The moment they crossed eyes for the first time was just enough to realize that she was the one and only for him. Her name, was Vanessa Doofenshmirtz.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey darlings!**

**I present to you chapter #2 **

**I'm sorry I posted this so late, I promise the next chapter won't take that long :) Hope you enjoy it!**

**I DO NOT OWN P&amp;F**

* * *

Chapter 2

The last time he saw Vanessa Doofenshmirtz was a long time ago when they were together at the Eiffel Tower and he didn't get the opportunity to express his feelings for her. He turned around and realized she had left with someone else. It wasn't a big of a deal, he was conscious that his love for her would've never passed the difference of ages. Seriously, they were 10 and 16 years old. She never would've been interested for a simple boy. After a while Ferb concluded that he needed to move on for his own good, he had a whole life ahead waiting for him after all.

He entered to his car and started driving to distract himself a little. He knew that Phineas would walk home with Isabella so that he could take the car and get all the materials he needed for his pending homework. He stopped by so many stores that after getting done with that, he pulled over the coffee shop to find peace in some reading and tea. He stepped up to the counter and stood behind other clients, waiting for his turn.

"_What can I get for you, sweetheart?" _the cashier asked.

"_Cappuccino with chocolate powder on top and a ginger scone, please"_

Ferb looked up in surprise. He couldn't help overhearing their conversation and noticing how familiar the lady's voice sounded. He related her voice with a simple "_Hey, how's it goin'" _that hypnotized him a many years ago and his heart started beating really fast as he watched the girl slowly turn around with her beverage, hoping to confirm his suspicions by seeing her face.

"OH GOD! Ferb! It's you! Hello!" a red haired, nerdy-looking guy appeared in front of Ferb out of nowhere.

"I'm Irving! You remember me right? Of course you do" he offered his hand for a friendly handshake and when he saw no response from Ferb, his smile went away. "You do right?"

Ferb sighed and shook hands with his extremely awkward lifetime stalker. There was a time that he considered on placing a restraining order against Irving for his constant appearances on his apartment at any time of the day. The guy could spend the entire day taking pictures and writing about Phineas and Ferb's personal lives on his blog, which they found disturbing every time. However, Irving had to leave Danville a couple of years ago since he was chosen to take a quantum mechanics course in Germany, leaving Phineas and Ferb free from stalkers, until now.

Irving starts questioning Ferb for everything he could imagine that moment. "_So, how have you been? How's Phineas? Do you still live at your awesome apartment? Have you invented any other incredible things? Is there any special girl in your life right now?...". _He wasn't paying too much attention on what Irving was saying until that last question. Ferb turned his head to look for the mysterious woman and realized she wasn't there anymore. His eyes went down and he sighed in disillusion. Deep down his heart he was really hoping to find that beautiful girl he fell in love with when he was a kid. If it wasn't for Irving's interruption he could've at least seen her face and prove that his ears weren't wrong. His gaze shifted to a furious one and turned back to Irving, making him shut his questions.

"Is something wrong, Ferb? Irving asked as he slowly tried to place his hand on Ferb's shoulder.

"Leave" Ferb said, which made Irving back up a little and worry about what he could've said to make Ferb change his temper.

"I'm sorry, did I say some-"before he could finish, Ferb gave a step closer and interrupted, "Now". Irving jumped scared and ran out the coffee shop giving him a last -I'm sorry- before leaving.

Ferb tried to calm down after seeing how all the people were staring at him for what just happened. He cleared his throat and took his place back in the line. It was even harder for him to understand why he acted that way just for a girl that could've or couldn't be Vanessa Doofenshmirtz, even if he was clearly conscious on how her voice sounded like. Suddenly his phone rang and he took it out to see that his brother texted him –_Hey, are you home? I need to talk to you.-, _then the grey-haired lady behind the counter spoke before he could reply.

"Um, excuse me, sweetie? Are you ordering something?"

Ferb looked up, he texted Phineas back –_I'll be right there-, _put his phone in his pocket and took out his wallet. "Darjeeling tea, please."

"Sure thing, may I have your name?"

"Ferb"

"Now that's a strange name!"

Ferb rolled his eyes. "F-E-R-B" he said and placed the money in the bar.

"Oh, are you having a rough day honey?" she said.

Ferb shook his head. He took his tea and chose a table outside the coffee shop to get some fresh air. He spend almost the entire evening sitting there reading the same three pages, like he wasn't able to concentrate. His mind was filled with memories from back in the days were he and Phineas could do anything that they wanted, that was indeed the best distraction he had to stop thinking of Vanessa. He remembered when he helped her at the Superduper Mega Superstore to get this rare chemical her father wanted so desperately. Even when she told him not to, he left Phineas back to be with her and she appreciated his help anyway. Then he remembered how doleful he felt when she left him alone at the Eiffel Tower. Ferb took a sip of his tea and closed his eyes. He was holding the rose he bought for her, just for her. He placed the book down, then looked up to the sky. '_I was a child, how could I feel so much for her if I knew that it was never going to happen?' _he thought.

* * *

When the sun went down, Ferb left the place and headed back home. He totally forgot Phineas needed to tell him something 'important' and drove as fast as he could to his apartment. He went in and found his brother in the kitchen working on something in his laptop.

"Ferb! Where were you? I texted you three hours ago."

"I was busy" He said.

"At the coffee shop?"

Ferb frowned. He knew that his brother would never spy on him, but then how did he know what Ferb was doing?

"That's why I wanted to talk to you. Isabella told me Irving posted something about you acting kind of weird at the coffee shop, something about being rude to him." Phineas said as he walked up to his brother with the laptop on his hands.

_**Irving's blog**_

_** Today I met a part of Ferb Fletcher I didn't know, or at least never knew he had. I could see in his eyes something was bothering him. When I tried to ask if I could help him, he approached menacingly towards me and asked me to leave him alone[…].**_

"I know you, and you're not the kind of guy that loses his mind out of nowhere. I also know that Irving isn't your favorite person, but that was never a reason for you to piss off." He said.

Ferb put his bag down as he listened what his brother was saying, then grab a chair and took a seat in the kitchen. He knew he did wrong at the coffee table, but he didn't know how to explain Phineas what had caused his anger. Phineas got back in the kitchen and sat next to him.

"Unless, of course, he lied on his blog. You tell me."

Ferb shrugged and looked down.

"Ferb, is something bothering you? You know you can tell me right?"

"I'll apologize tomorrow" Ferb stood up and went upstairs to his room.

"Um, okay bro, see you tomorrow" Phineas went behind him and asked "but, are you fine?"

Ferb gave him a thumbs up and shut the door. He reached his bed and stared at the ceiling for a while, the idea of being a completely different person for something so meaningless was killing him. After thinking carefully about the situation, this wasn't the first time he acted different as he usually is because of her. He admitted that the idea of seeing her again would've been pleasing but he knew nothing about her other than her name, or how she looked like when she was 16, she probably wouldn't recognize him if they meet in the future. With that thought, Ferb closed his eyes and fell asleep.

* * *

Ferb woke up early the next day to do the homework he didn't make the day before, then he prepared some breakfast for him and his brother. He heard that someone was knocking their door and walked up to open it. Isabella was standing behind it.

"Good morning Ferb! What'cha doin'?" she said

Ferb waved his hand and let her come in. She went to the kitchen and sat down.

"Oh, you're making breakfast, do you mind if I join you? I had to come here and to make sure Phineas gets up early and I didn't have time to grab something to eat."

Ferb smiled and gave her a plate.

"So, um, everything's alright? I did read what Irving posted yesterday and I wanted to make sure you were fine"

Ferb sat next to her. "I'm alright, don't worry about me". Isabella smiled and continued eating.

"I heard a beautiful voice coming from downstairs and I knew it was you" Phineas said as he approached to his girlfriend and greeted her with a kiss. Ferb rolled his eyes.

"Hey bro, do you have any plans for this evening?" he said

Ferb glanced at him. "Actually I-"

"Great" Phineas interrupted. "Because I know what you're going to do today! Do me a favor and please go fetch the blueprints written in this note" and gave Ferb a piece of paper.

Ferb sighed and nodded.

After school, Ferb made his way to "Blueprint Heaven" for the favor Phineas asked him to do. He was feeling excited because every time his brother needed some blueprints, it meant that they were going to build something together. He felt some relief that he could chill a little and distract himself from all the Irving issue while building. When he arrived to the place, he saw someone from the inside of the store was approaching to the exit and he politely opened the door for him/her. A girl came out of the store with a bunch of blueprints that covered her face. She looked like she was having problems holding them all together.

"Yes Dad! I have them all here!...Dad, I know that they gave the correct blueprints, I checked them all." She said to the phone in her hand.

Ferb's eyes widened. '_That voice, again' _he thought. He couldn't see her face but it was now crystal clear for him, it wasn't a dream. He was sure it was definitely her. Just exactly like the first time they met.

"Vanessa?" he said.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hellooo (:**

**I'm sorry if i'm posting this so late but here you have, Chapter #3. I promise I'll post Ch4 tomorrow ;)**

**BTW thank you very much for your reviews, you have no idea of how happy I am.**

**I DO NOT OWN P&amp;F**

* * *

Chapter 3

Still holding the door, Ferb watched the girl turn around when she heard someone next to her. He felt the scene as in slow motion, the background went silent and the only thing he could hear was his heart pounding inside him. He analyzed the situation carefully, if it wasn't her, he would feel the craziest guy in the entire world and probably need to explain to the lady about his confusion. But if it was indeed her, he definitely needed to know what to say in order not to look like a total fool. Unfortunately, that moment wasn't from a movie scene. The girl hit the door with the bunch of blueprints she was holding when she completely turned around, dropping everything she had in her hands, both blueprints and cellphone. They stood there and watched the blueprints rolling all over the sidewalk. She sighed and without looking at him, bent to pick all of her stuff up. Ferb couldn't do anything for a few seconds, he froze by the moment he saw her face. As he suspected, she clearly was Vanessa Doofenshmirtz.

He came out of trance almost immediately and hurried to help her pick up the papers. He looked up and saw Vanessa holding her blueprints and standing in the middle of the street trying to grab her cell phone from the floor. Ferb swiftly looked around and saw a big trailer coming really fast from the other side of the street, then turned his head back to Vanessa. It seemed she wasn't able to see the trailer coming towards her because she was still trying to bend over to grab her phone without dropping the blueprints again. Ferb got up as fast as he could and ran to her. Before she could finally take her phone, Vanessa heard the honk from the trailer and looked up just to see an enormous truck right on her face. He pushed her of out the way and they both landed on the other side on the street.

"Wait! My phone!" she cried.

Ferb promptly pressed a button from his watch and pulled out a mechanical claw that stretched all the way to take the cellphone off the ground, narrowly missing the trailer. Her eyes popped open as she saw the green-haired man who had just save her from death. Suddenly remembered that she once knew this little boy with green hair that could build extraordinary stuff in his backyard with his brother. Now that she was safe and sound, Ferb turned his head to meet her eyes, they were so near to each other that he could feel his heart coming out of his chest.

He cleared his throat then got up to offer his hand. "Are you alright?" he said.

She watched him from head to foot. He was now taller than he used to be, obviously he was no longer ten years-old. His green hair was longer and it slightly covered his forehead. He was wearing a cream shirt and a green jacket, dark blue jeans and brown moccasins. She might have thought it was someone else, but she didn't think there were many guys with green natural hair, plus his British accent just confirmed it was actually him. She took his hand and stood up in front of him.

"Ferb?" She grinned. "Is that you?"

"Hello Vanessa"

* * *

Meanwhile, back at college, Isabella was walking down the hallway with all her friends. She wouldn't know what to do without them, they were always together. The girls helped her to get ready the very first time Phineas asked her out, scolded him when he forgot their two-month anniversary, and comforted her when they had their first fight. If something happened with the two of them, the girls would know immediately. They had to leave The Loyal Sisterhood of the Fireside Girls a couple of years ago for being a little 'old', and let a group of younger girls take their charges, either way they had to prepare for more important things. They were now part of the cheerleaders group from the football team, having Isabella as the leader.

"So, are you guys planning on doing anything special today?" Adyson asked.

Isabella smiled. "Actually he said it was kind of a surprise"

"Oh! Do you think he is finally taking you shopping?" "Maybe he's taking her to the park for a romantic picnic" "Nah! They'll probably go dancing" The girls started talking one after another without letting Isabella speak.

"Girls! Cut it out! You're just making me nervous." She said.

"Why? You've been together for a while now, you shouldn't be nervous for going out with him" Ginger said.

"She's like this because she wants Phineas to move in with her." Gretchen said with a small grin on her face.

"GRETCHEN!" Isabella shrugged and her cheeks turned red. All of the other girls were silent for 2 seconds and then together expressed a big 'Aww'.

Katie got closer to her and placed her hand on Isabella's shoulder. "You know, you'll never know what he thinks if you don't tell him" she said and smiled. Isabella stopped walking and faced her friends.

"Do you think he'll be okay with the idea?" she said.

"Of course!" they all responded. Isabella smiled and said "I will, I'll tell him"

* * *

He felt like electric shocks inside his skin when she took his hand. Ferb couldn't stop looking at her, she was even more beautiful than before. Her eyes were bluer and brighter than the sea itself, she had straight, brown hair moving as the wind touched it. Although she wasn't wearing her black punk outfit anymore, she still looked wonderful wearing a purple sleeveless top with skinny jeans and boots. The last time he saw her, he was still shorter than her. Now, he had to look down to look at her in the eyes, which he considered adorable. He saw her smile at him and it made his heart melt.

"Of course it's you! Who else could have a claw coming out of a simple watch?" She laughed. "How've you been?"

"Never better" he smiled. "You seem like you are having troubles carrying all these"

"Yeah, kind of. I was just talking to my dad, he needs them as soon as possible." She looked down. Before she could crouch again, Ferb took her arm to stop her.

"Please, allow me to carry these for you" He looked at her and then picked up the blueprints from the floor.

"Oh, thanks!" Vanessa grinned. She totally forgot for a moment what a gentleman Ferb was. When they were younger he was the quietest boy in town, but everyone knew he was one of the politest guys from all Danville. She was intrigued on what he had done the last years.

"Hey, what do you say if we go get a coffee? You know, to catch up a little" she said.

He nodded enthusiastically and waved his hand as saying '_after you'._

As they got the coffee shop, he opened the door for her and saw Vanessa pointing to an empty table, "Why don't you grab that spot, I gotta go to the ladies room, be right back" she said then made her way to a door in the back. She looked herself in the mirror while she washed her hands and tried to fix her hair a little. Then shook her head and thought "_What am I doing? He's just a friend. Well, yeah he is a great looking guy but..." _she closed her eyes, sighed then looked back up.

"No, Vanessa, you can't take risks girl, you don't want to get hurt again." she said.

She came out of the restroom and found Ferb sitting at the table she chose before with two cups in front of him. She smiled and took the front seat.

"How much do I owe you?" she said referring to her coffee.

He smirked and shook his head. "Please, my treat" then grab his cup to take a sip. "I hope I got it right"

Vanessa took a sip and opened her eyes in surprise, it was specifically her usual cappuccino with chocolate powder on top. "How did you know?"

"Let's call it 'intuition'" he smiled. '_Nailed it'_

She raised her eyebrow and laughed.

For some reason, Vanessa felt like she could tell Ferb anything she wanted to express, just like old times. She used to consider Ferb as her confident for any problem she had with her father or any other situation where she simply needed company. The more they talked, the more coziness she felt. She suddenly focused on the actual scene and freaked out on how comfortable she was feeling with Ferb, so much so that she started to panic and got on her feet right away. Part of her didn't want to leave but another big part of her knew that she couldn't get involved with another situation that could end wrong for her.

"I'm sorry Ferb, I gotta go, um, look thanks for the coffee but..." Vanessa stopped when she saw him standing up, his smile went away.

Ferb looked like he was really regretting for doing something to ruin the moment of his life. Even if there were only a few minutes, he really enjoyed her company and wanted to get to know Vanessa better. He felt a stab in his heart when he heard she had to leave.

"I didn't mean to disturb you" he said.

"No, no, you didn't it's just that..." she sighed. "I really need to get these blueprints to my dad"

"Are available for lunch tomorrow?"

She wanted to say yes but instead she said "Actually, I'm busy"

"Well then dinner. If you'd like, of course" he said and stepped a little closer to her.

She did see Ferb's good intentions as a friend or whatever he was trying to be, besides it might not be the worst idea if she decided to go out with a friend. It's just to catch up, right?

Vanessa grinned and offered her hand for a handshake. "You got it"

Ferb sighed in relief. He took her hand and planted a little kiss on it. "See you then"


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey darlings!**

**There you go, Chapter #4 (: Hope you guys enjoy it and please review!**

**I DO NOT OWN P&amp;F**

* * *

Chapter 4

Isabella was at her house ready for her 'surprise' thingy with her beloved boyfriend. She was wearing a dark blue dress, silver heels and diamonds on her ears. Even though she finished her makeup and hair, she couldn't stop looking at the mirror double checking. Her hands were sweaty and she was walking all around her room in circles without stopping. She sighed and sat on the corner of her bed. '_What if he freaks out? What if he says no?'_ she thought.

She had been dreaming of living with Phineas since they started dating. When they started college together, they agreed to stop by the each other's places occasionally after school to spend the evening together, either doing homework or watching movies. They could be the entire day together and it would never get uncomfortable or weird between them, they felt even more united instead. However, she was conscious that Phineas had always been with his step-brother since they were babies, they were inseparable. She had no heart to ask her boyfriend to choose between Ferb and her, but on the other hand, at some point of his life he will have to decide by himself if he wants to stay with Isabella or not. After a few minutes she heard Phineas knocking her door, she bit her bottom lip and walked down to open it. Her boyfriend was wearing a white shirt with a black jacket and pants. He looked like he had shaved his chin leaving just a soul patch beard.

"Hey beautiful" He kissed Isabella on the lips, placing his hands on her waist to pull her closer. When they broke the kiss, he looked at her and smiled. "Wow, you look amazing Isabella"

"Thank you Phineas" she smiled and her cheeks turned red. For a moment she forgot how nervous she was, he always knew how to make her feel better, even if he wasn't aware of Isabella's nervousness.

"So, where are we going?" she asked.

"Ha! Nice try" he said. "You don't want to ruin the surprise, do you?"

"Oh Phineaaaaas!" she cried as they made their way to the car.

He drove directly to the central park and parked on the loneliest place of the park. He previously covered Isabella's eyes and grabbed her hand to guide her to her surprise. She was so excited she couldn't stop smiling and asking him where they were going. They stopped and everything went quiet.

"Izzy, dear, we're here" he said and uncovered her eyes. They were standing in front of a romantic dinner he had prepared for her, there were a table and a pair of chairs, rose petals all over them and a bouquet of flowers in the middle. Everything was illuminated by a little chandelier.

"Oh my god, Phineas! This is so lovely! Did you do this all by yourself?" she asked.

"Of course, I wanted to make it special for you." He said and embraced her. "Oh! I almost forgot. Do you remember you mentioned you always wanted to watch a movie in a Drive-in Theater?"

"Yeah.."

"Then I present to you…" Phineas pressed a button and a huge structure came out from the ground with a large movie screen, a projection booth coming from distance, a snack kiosk specialized for a movie theater and a classic car bed/couch a couple of meters far from the screen. "**The Bella-Theater**!" he said. Isabella was speechless, her eyes widened and amazed on what they were seeing. Every time they had a monthiversary, Phineas came up with something extraordinary to make her happy. She loved the way he changed from being an oblivious guy that couldn't notice her at all to a romance expert that knew exactly how to be the perfect boyfriend. Tears were coming out of her eyes when he got closer and held her hands.

"Since there are no more Drive-in theaters around, I thought I could create one for you. I spend the whole day working on it. I actually asked Ferb to pick up the blueprints I ordered but he never answered his phone, weird huh? Anyways I went over there to pick them up and start working as soon as possible. I requested for a convertible car that could transform into a fancy couch but it appears that this was the best they could do. I did give it a couple modifications tho, so it could be more comfortable. Over here we have the list of movies we could watch today, all kinds of genres and categories, you just need the remote to choo-" He was interrupted by Isabella's lips against his.

"It's perfect, Phineas. You are the best boyfriend in the whole world. I love you" she said and pulled him for a tight hug.

Phineas hugged her back and kissed her forehead. "I love you too, Isabella"

She pulled back and looked him in the eyes. "Move in with me, Phineas"

* * *

He saw Vanessa leaving the coffee shop and stood there shocked on what he just did. Ferb got back to his seat and stared to the two cups on the table for a few minutes, processing the last scene he had with the girl of his dreams. '_I have a date' _he thought. He winked twice then shook his head. He tried to distract himself from that and pulled out a book from his back pack. '_I have a date with a wonderful woman'. _He opened and tried to read it. '_I have a date with Vanessa Doofenshmirtz'. _The more he thought about it, the more nervous he got; he felt a knot on his stomach and his heart rate increasing exponentially. He really didn't want to mess things up with her, he thought of it like an opportunity once in a lifetime and if he didn't know how to keep it, maybe he will never have it again. He suddenly remembered his situation from 2 years ago, when he decided to date a girl from his calculus class.

"_Yes! Yes Ferb, I do want to go out with you!"_

_She became his girlfriend officially three days after their first date. Angela sat next to Ferb the very first day of school and since then they started bonding pretty well. She had blonde and curly hair, her eyes were green and her complexion was very fair. Their relationship seemed perfect for everyone, even though he never talked so much, she was always laughing and they looked happy together. He usually picked her up in the morning to go to college, had classes with her, had lunch with her, did homework with her, did everything with her. They were always together doing their same routine every day. Ferb didn't feel awkward with their relationship until he noticed she was following him all the time. She was sitting on the benches when he had soccer practice always looking at him, she followed him to the restroom and waited for him outside, she kept asking him where he was or what he was doing. The worst was when she ordered other girls not to talk to him. Ferb felt increasingly uncomfortable with their relationship that he unconsciously began to act apathetical with her. One day she asked him to meet her after school to talk about them._

"_Why are you acting like this? I'm always trying to be around you as much as possible and what do I get? Nothing, not even a kiss"_

_It was true. The relationship was based on company, hand holding and hugs, but they never kissed. It wasn't that Ferb didn't want to, he just never had the initiative. She tried a couple of times but he politely refused. _

"_Ferb I want to ask you something" _

_He nodded._

"_If you love me, kiss me…" she said. He frowned and stepped closer to her. He took her chin and made her look up, their eyes met. "Forgive me Angela, I can't"_

He didn't like to recall that moment, she was so upset that she felt the need to transfer to a different university. On the other hand Ferb knew he did the right thing, plus he promised himself never to kiss a woman unless the moment and feelings are appropriate. Then imagined the same situation now with Vanessa. If she wanted to be all the time around him, he wouldn't mind. If she wanted to have lunch with him every day, he'd be honored. If she wanted to kiss him…it would be the most incredible thing that could ever happen to him. He enjoyed having her close to him because he was absolutely sure that even if he wasn't as talkative as her, she didn't care and could spend the entire day talking about everything. Furthermore, he could spend the rest of his life watching her smile and it would be enough. If he had to repeat the same story with Vanessa, if he gets the chance to enter to her life, he would never let her go.

He decided to head back home after spending the entire evening at the coffee shop planning what to do for his date. He realized that he finally got a date with the girl he fell in love with when he was younger, it was something he wanted so bad before but couldn't do it because of the difference of ages. That was no longer a problem and Ferb was going to do everything possible to make it perfect.

* * *

Ferb opened the door from his apartment and saw that all the lights were off. '_He's probably with Isabella'_ he thought. He went upstairs and saw the door of his room half open, the light was on. "Who's there?" he said. No one answered. He got to his room and saw that someone was sitting on his bed, his face was serious.

"Phineas?"

Phineas looked up and smiled nervously. "Hey bro! I was waiting for you. Where have you been?"

"With a friend"

"A friend? Who? Do I know him…or her?"

"Just a friend" Ferb frowned and put his backpack on his desk. He knew Phineas was the worst secret-keeper ever and he didn't want to make his date public with their little social group of friends. He turned his head to see his brother looking down and playing with his fingers. That was Phineas when he wanted to say something and he didn't know how to do it.

"Everything alright?" he asked.

Phineas stood up and placed an arm on Ferb's shoulder. "Look, there's something I need to tell you"


	5. Chapter 5

**Hellooo! **

**There you go, Chapter #5 Tomorrow I'll be posting 6 and probably 7 ;) Please review!**

* * *

Chapter 5

"I'm listening" Ferb said.

_Phineas opened his eyes in surprise, his girlfriend just asked her to move their relationship to the next level. He saw Isabella's cheeks were red and her expression had changed from happiness to sadness. Her eyes were watery but she held her tears not to show him she got hurt with his reaction. 'I'm so stupid' she thought._

_"You know what? Don't worry about it, let's just forget I said it and have our special dinner together shall we?" she said and faked a smile. She turned around and sat on a chair._

_He didn't move and had no expression on his face._

_Isabella was heartbroken. She thought that if Phineas didn't want to move in with her now, he will never do it. She always felt that their relationship consisted of mutual compromise, but after his reaction she imagined that maybe he wasn't that in to her as she thought. She didn't want to think that Phineas was the kind of guys that have girlfriends just for fun and after a while they dump them, he was different. He loved her and she knew that, but maybe he wasn't ready for a step like this and she needed to respect that. 'Wait' she thought 'we've been together for two years and we're all grown ups'. She frowned and looked at Phineas._

"_Look, I know maybe it was wrong for me to ask you something you probably are not ready for or you don't want to, but I do know what I want. You're what I always wanted, Phineas, since we were kids the only thing I wanted was for you to look at me with other eyes, in a different way other than your friend. I was thrilled the first day you asked me out and I was the happiest girl on earth when I became your girlfriend…"_

_Phineas started walking slowly toward her._

_She continued. "I had the courage to ask you to move in with me because I thought both of us wanted the same thing. What I want is for us to be planning a wonderful future together, what do you want Phineas? Huh? What? We have been together for a long time now and it has been amazing, but I need you to tell me what you expect for this relationship. The idea of you breaking up with me because of commitment issues is killing me, please Phineas, tell me what you want."_

_He took her hands and kissed them, then wiped her tears with his thumb. They were looking into each other's eyes when he spoke._

"_Yes"_

_Isabella stepped back. "Yes what?"_

Phineas took a deep breath and looked into his brother eyes. "Ferb, I'll move in with Isabella. I love her and I really don't think I could find any other woman like her, she's just…perfect. I screwed things up when we were younger and I was too blind to see her interest in me, but I'm not anymore. I want to be with her as long as she wants it too."

Ferb smirked. "Finally" he said and made his way to the bed.

"So, you're okay with it?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, um, I don't know, I thought maybe you would feel like I'm abandoning you or something like that. Wow, I was so nervous. I thought you were going to get mad but you didn't. That's such a relief right? You know, because we have never separated from each other since we were babies and I thought that could freak you out or somethi-" He stopped when he saw Ferb glancing at him oddly.

Phineas sighed "I should shut up, you're right, I'm sorry" He sat on Ferb's bed, then Ferb sat up straight and put his arm on his brother's shoulder.

"I would never get mad for something that could make you happy, Phineas. You're my brother and I'm sure you would be acting the same way if it was me the one who's moving out. There is no reason for me to freak out. Besides, I knew this could happen any time" he said.

"You did?"

"Definitely, given the fact that she is the only girl capable of tolerating your obliviousness and clumsiness, it was crystal clear that you two were going to end up living together"

"Hey!" Phineas hit him with his elbow and laughed. "It's true. Thanks bro" He smiled.

"Would you mind helping me packing all my stuff?"

Ferb smiled and gave him a thumbs up.

They spent the entire night packing, the living room was filled with boxes and other Phineas' stuff. His room was completely empty after the night, the only thing Phineas and Ferb were sharing was the car, but they agreed that since Phineas was going everywhere with his girlfriend, Ferb could take the car doubtlessly. Phineas was now calmed after knowing his brother supported him in the idea of moving forward with his relationship with Isabella. Deep inside him he knew that there wouldn't be a problem with Ferb, but their bond really meant a lot to him to simply ignore his brother's feelings. They both woke up early to receive Isabella and load her car with all the luggage and boxes. Even though she always looked happy when she visited the Flynn-Fletcher house, her face was different that day, she was grinning from ear to ear and she was loading most of the stuff by herself. Once they were done, Phineas and Isabella sat on the kitchen table while Ferb prepared breakfast for everyone.

"I promise I'll visit frequently, alright?" Phineas said referring to Ferb.

"Of course you will, you couldn't live one day without Ferb's help on your projects and ideas" Isabella said and kissed her boyfriend on the cheek.

"Well, apparently he wasn't able to do a simple task like picking up blueprints from the 'Blueprint Heaven'"

Ferb widened his eyes and pretended he didn't hear the last statement his brother said, until Phineas continued. "What happened yesterday, Ferb? You said you were with a 'friend', was that the reason you forgot to do my favor?"

"Probably" Ferb said.

Isabella and Phineas shared glance in surprise. "When you say 'friend', you mean a female friend?"

Ferb turned his head over his shoulders and smiled. He placed the breakfast on the table and grabbed the keys. "Later" he said.

"What? Wait! Aren't you gonna have breakfast?" Phineas said and stood up. "Where are you going?"

"To the mall, it is a requirement to be well dressed on a date, isn't it?" Ferb said and crossed the front door. After his last phrase Phineas grinned widely and looked into his girlfriend's eyes, who was smiling too.

* * *

Vanessa looked at her watch, it was almost 8 o'clock and she was still deciding what to wear for her date with Ferb. She kept changing clothes, dress after dress, trying to find the perfect outfit for the occasion. Even if it was just a 'friends date' to catch up a little, she felt like she needed to put on something different than her usual clothing. Her wardrobe was no longer black, she decided to dress like a normal girl when she turned 20 and it went well in so many ways for her. She never imagined how nervous she could be for a dinner date with an old friend. After leaving the coffee shop, she couldn't erase the smile on her face, even if she wanted to so badly. On one hand it had been a long time since she accepted a dinner invitation and she was excited to see how it could go, she saw in Ferb the possibility of resuming the friendship they once had, but on the other hand, Vanessa wasn't sure if it would be appropriate to call it a 'date'. Ferb couldn't be interested in her, he was just being polite as always and wanted to replace the coffee shop meeting with a simple dinner. Besides, she definitely was not interested on getting serious with anyone right now.

She finally decided for a semi violet strapless dress and heels, a silver necklace and diamond earrings. She heard a knock on her door and saw her roommate through the mirror.

"Someone is asking for you" he said.

She grinned. "I'll be right there!" she said and took her purse, then she made her way to the front door and saw Ferb wearing a yellowish shirt with a purple vest, tie and grey pants. His hands were holding a beautiful rose.

"Hello Vanessa" he said. "You look lovely tonight"

Vanessa received Ferb's rose and giggled. "Thanks! You look great too"

"Well thank you, shall we go to dinner?"

"Where are we going?"

"You'll see" Ferb offered his arm and she took it. He opened the car door for her and after a few seconds he joined her inside.

"Seatbelt please" he said.

"Really?"

"Well it is known that my driving record is clean and that I have never been in an automobile accident, but it would be a shame if something happens to you due to a distraction coming from me. So, please"

His British accent somehow made Vanessa do whatever he said, everything sounded more formal and respectful coming from him. Without hesitation, she put the seatbelt on and they left her apartment.

They arrived to an Italian restaurant Ferb already knew from a long ago. It looked like a very expensive place for a young man like Ferb, but Vanessa felt like he knew what he was doing. The place was elegant everywhere, the walls were covered with beautiful and artistic paintings, the tables and chairs were all tall and refined, even the doors looked rustic but fancy. She felt flattered that Ferb did all that just for her, given the fact that they were just friends. _'He's probably an excellent boyfriend material, huh, He's definitely not single' _she thought and laughed in silence. They sat on the table Ferb booked for that night and he ordered a bottle of wine for them.

"Wine? Aren't you a little young for alcohol?" She laughed.

"I'm not 10 years old anymore"

"I'm aware of that, just wondering how old you are now"

He smirked. "I'm twenty-one, Vanessa"

'_That's right! I'm six years older than him, well he really looks older than that' _she thought. "You're right, how could I forget that? I can assure you that I will remember that the next time"

"Interesting, it seems that I have already earned another pleasant dinner night with you, am I right?" he looked at her eyes after filling two glasses with wine.

"I don't see why not, I'd love that" she smiled and took her wineglass.

"Well then, cheers to that"

"Cheers"


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey darlings! **

**I wanted this whole chapter to be about Ferbnessa's date, I'll be adding Phinbella the next chapter :)**

* * *

Chapter 6

The more Ferb looked at her, the more amazed he got. He admired the way she grabbed the glass with her delicate fingers, the way her lips moved as she spoke, the beauty on her voice when she laughed, the way her hair caressed her elbows, just, everything. Even if he could get easily distracted with her pulchritude, he listened and paid attention on every word coming out of her mouth, he just couldn't focus on anything else other than Vanessa. He felt like if she hypnotized him since that very first time they met and he hasn't been able to cure from her enchantment. That didn't bothered him, he didn't want to feel different. He didn't plan on pushing her to some kind of relationship, he just wanted to enjoy the moment with her presence.

Vanessa never expected on having such a great time with him, she felt like she was speaking to a brand new Ferb, or at least one she didn't knew.

"So let me get this straight," she said. "You created this satellite that can let you talk with other species over the universe with your brother when you were younger, the country is now using it to do investigations over the galactic interweb and they're paying you for that since then?"

Ferb nodded.

"What could a ten year old boy do with that amount of money?"

"What else? Save it, of course"

"And why did you decided to stay here for school instead of going back to England?" she asked as the waiter came by with their dinner. He placed them in the table and they started eating.

"I was planning on it, but Phineas asked me to stay. You see, he started dating Isabella a couple of years ago and he had no idea how to handle a relationship. It wasn't that I knew a lot more than him, but he wanted me to help him out in any possible situation. The day he asked her out I had to make the phone call because he was way too excitable and couldn't even hold his own breath," He laughed. "Phineas has always been there for me when I'm in trouble, and I enjoy being in America so, I decided to drop my plans and attend to Tri-State State with them."

"Wow, sounds to me like a tough decision" Vanessa said with a worried look on her face.

Ferb just shook his head and grinned. "Not at all," he grabbed his glass of wine, "If I had gone, I wouldn't be sitting here tonight"

"Touché" she said and cleaned her mouth with a napkin. "So, Phineas got together with the pretty little girl of the pink dress and bow? I never knew she had a thing for him"

"Seriously?"

"Nah, I'm just messing with you, everyone knew" they both laughed and looked at each other's eyes for a minute. _'Why is he looking at me like that?'_ she thought. Ferb always had an odd way to look at everything, but there was something different on his eyes. He looked happier than ever, and he was obviously talking more considering that he used to say only one line per day. She cut her glance and turned her head shamefully, making Ferb chuckle.

As they were talking, Ferb noticed a flashing light coming from a window far from their table, then without telling Vanessa, he tried to figure out what that was about. It looked like the flash from a digital camera but couldn't recognize the character behind those annoying lights.

"Ferb…Ferb?" Vanessa asked confused.

He frowned and turn to her. "Excuse me for a moment" he said and stood up without letting her answer. He stepped out the restaurant and walked over the window he saw the lights. There was no one there. Ferb looked all over the place trying to find something or someone, he was about to give up and come back to the table when he saw a bush moving. '_Ouch' _he heard. He walked on tiptoes toward the bush and peered through the bush just to find a red haired guy hiding there. "Of course…" he sighed.

He cleared his throat, "Irving, come on out" and crossed his arms.

"Um, there's no one here, go away!"

"Irving…" he said while rolling his eyes. Irving came out of the bush after that and looked scared. "Please don't hurt me! I swear to God I wasn't spying on you, I just saw you picking up a girl earlier today and I got curious but that was it"

Ferb pointed out the camera on his hand.

"Oh this? Ha ha funny story, um, I- I thought maybe you'd want a picture with your girlfriend so-" He stopped when Ferb took the camera out of his hands.

"Look Irving, I wanted to apologize for my previous behavior at the coffee shop. It was uncalled for, just like what you are doing right now. You have no right to be taking pictures of me and my companion, who for your information is not my girlfriend. I'm going to have to ask you to leave, please"

"I'm sorry Ferb, it won't happen again. Oh and, don't worry about the coffee shop thing. Are we good?"

Ferb nodded and turned around to get back to the restaurant. He heard Irving saying something behind him but ignored him "_W-wait, my camera…Um you know what, you can take that"_. He found Vanessa standing in the door waiting for him.

"Everything okay? Who was that guy?"

"Not important, let me go pay the check and we can go take a walk, alright?". Vanessa nodded and waited outside as his Britain friend said.

* * *

It was kind of late but it didn't seem to matter for them. Ferb took her to the central park and they started walking slowly as they talked. There was blind blowing at their direction which made Vanessa cover her arms with her hands, after this Ferb offered her a jacket he had on his car. Ferb imagined the situation similar to the ones he normally reads on novels, where the main couple take a walk in the middle of the night, they hold hands, they look into their eyes and kissed. Unfortunately that wasn't a novel, Vanessa was just his friend and he couldn't take the risk of ruining everything on that perfect night.

"It's great that Candace got married, she looked like really loved her boyfriend" she said.

"She's now expecting her first child, 3 months"

"Oh my God that's awesome! Aren't you excited? You're going to be an uncle"

Ferb smirked and let her continue. "Thank you again for dinner, you were very sweet. I wonder if you treat your girlfriend the same way or even better"

He stopped walking and widened his eyes. "What makes you think I have a girlfriend?"

She turned around to look at him "You don't?"

"I had, but that was a long time ago" He walked to reach her and they continue walking together. "It's funny I actually thought the same thing for you"

"About what?"

Ferb looked up embarrassed on what they were talking about. "I find impossible the idea of you being single, by any chance do you have any-" He stopped talking when he saw Vanessa stopping and looking down her feet. Her face expressed sadness. "Vanessa?" he said and placed his hands on her shoulders.

"Did I say something inappropriate?" he asked.

She looked up. "No, no, it's nothing" she walked to a bench and sat down, Ferb followed her right away. "I-I did had a boyfriend, but it didn't worked out" she said as her voice lowered more and more. Vanessa inadvertently remembered her last relationship, it was undoubtedly the worst day of her life. She suddenly remembered being lying on the floor with blood running from her forehead, words popping out in her head: '_Look at you, you're nothing. You could never offer him what I can'. _ She shut her eyes and felt worse the more she thought of it, then felt a warm hand holding hers, she looked up to see Ferb's worried look.

"I ignore the reason why you are feeling this way and you probably won't tell me, which is totally fine. I just want you to know that if you ever need someone to speak to, here I am" he said.

Vanessa couldn't help but smile and placed a hand on his cheek. "You're so sweet Ferb, you really are"

His skin responded to her touch and felt goosebumps all over his body. He immediately turned his head to hide his red cheeks caused by embarrassment, his heart rate increased and his hand started shaking. He immediately shook his head and calmed down, he couldn't be acting like that knowing that Vanessa was having a rough time. He stood up and offered his hand to her.

"Allow me to take you home, it's getting late and it could be dangerous for you to be out here in the middle of the night"

She laughed "Very thoughtful, I'd appreciate it"

* * *

Vanessa kept looking through the window when they were driving back to her place, she felt bad thinking that she might have ruined her date with Ferb due to her horrific memories and felt the need to day something, but she had no idea how to do it. Although, he acted like a really true friend by trying to make her feel better without even knowing what she had on her mind, she really appreciated that. They turned the corner and arrived to Vanessa's apartment, Ferb parked the car and opened the door for her. When she stepped out of it, she accidentally met Ferb's face way to close from hers, both of them kept quiet and shared glances for a few seconds. He almost immediately cleared his throat as she looked her feet and escorted her to the front door.

"I had a wonderful night, Ferb. I'm sorry if I kind of messed things up at the park"

"Don't be, Vanessa" He took her hand and kissed it. "It was a pleasure spending the evening with you"

She giggled. "I'm really happy I ran into you, I don't know, I guess I needed a real friend"

Ferb smiled. If she wanted him to be just her friend, he'll accept it. It would be his goal to become something more formal but until then, he was not going to push their actual relationship. While they were having dinner, he realized that he had waited for her all those years since he last saw her, understanding that Vanessa Doofenshmirtz was the only one for him.

"See you later" she said.

Ferb nodded and waited outside until she closed the door.


	7. Chapter 7

**Hi there!**

**Wow this chapter is longer than I thought, haha! I hope you guys enjoy it, sorry for the delay tho. I present to you Chapter# 7**

* * *

Chapter 7

"Uff! Well, that was the last box," Phineas said to his girlfriend, who was sitting in the couch tired and with a tissue wiping off the sweat in her forehead. "Everything is all set up in my new bedroom"

After leaving now Ferb's apartment, Phineas and Isabella spent the whole evening fixing his new room. Before asking him, she really thought the idea of sharing the same room with Phineas but since they were still a couple of college students, having a whole apartment for themselves was enough. Besides, sharing the bed meant way more for her than she ever thought, as she always dreamt with becoming the future Mrs. Flynn she wanted to wait until that happens. She also didn't want to make Phineas uncomfortable with such an indecent proposal knowing that he wouldn't know how to react, and also she wanted that if something happened it had to be in consideration of the two of them. Phineas took the seat next to her and grabbed the glass of water on the table.

"Have I ever told you how adorable you look when you get all busy?" she said and placed a hand on his face, he immediately moved his head back.

"Izzy, wait! I'm all sweaty, I'm nothing but a sack of dirty and…" He said and turned his head just to see his girlfriend getting on top of him with a flirty look, his breathing was cutting off and his cheeks turned red. "Whoah! I-Isabella?!"

"Now that I think of it, I never properly said 'thanks' for moving in with me" she said and got her face closer to his.

"I-I don't think I get it, you were pretty clear at the Bella-Theater when you hugged me almost trying to squeeze my organs out"

Isabella gave him an odd look. "That's not what I meant, Phineas"

"Oh, but you did say thanks after hugging me"

"Phineas…" she rolled her eyes.

"You even said it more than 3 times"

She returned to her seat and sighed. "You haven't changed even a little, haven't you?"

"What? What do you mean? Is that a bad thing?" he said with a worried look in his face.

She couldn't help smile and started leaning toward him for a kiss, "Of course not, sweetie". Phineas responded to it and after a few seconds broke the kiss to ask.

"So, Gretchen was fine with me moving in? She has been your roommate since we started school" he said.

"She'll be moving to an apartment of her own. You know, I'm worried about her," she said and grabbed Phineas' hand, "She has a big crush on Ferb, she can't stop thinking about him since they shared class on high school. The day he broke up with the blondie girl, Gretchen was happier than ever, but apparently Ferb has been rejecting her every time she tries to ask him out. Do you know if he's interested in someone?"

"Huh, it's hard to tell," He stood up and starting walking around the room, "Ferb tells me everything, but when it comes to girls he's very reserved."

"The last time Gretchen asked him out, he gave her a flower and left. She thought maybe he did that to not look bad after rejecting her, he did ask her to discuss it later tho"

"He did?" Phineas stopped walking and looked into his girlfriend's eyes, she suddenly caught what he was trying to imply. "I'm gonna call her" she said and pulled out her phone on speaker.

_***beep* *beep* **_

_Hello?_

"Gretchen, hey! Whatcha doin'?"

_Hey, um I'm kinda busy, can we talk later?_

"Busy? Doing what?"

_Come on, Isabella, I'm having dinner, okay? I'll call you later._

_***End of the call***_

They looked amazed into each other's eyes, thinking about the possibility of Ferb and Gretchen having a date. I actually matched up for them, Phineas heard him making a reservation at an Italian restaurant and they now heard Gretchen saying she's having dinner and being busy for some reason.

"But why didn't she tell me?"

"She probably didn't because of Ferb, I told you he's very reserved with all this dating stuff. Gee, that's so awesome, he hasn't been with anyone since Angela, it's gonna be good for him" he said and held Isabella's hand

"Yeah, I'm happy for them too, Gretchen deserved this" she stood up and pulled Phineas to the kitchen. "Come on, let's make some popcorn and watch a movie together"

* * *

Vanessa stood in front of her door, grinning and watching her hand kissed by Ferb. She peaked into the window to watch him leave in his car, she couldn't take the image of Ferb's eyes off her mind. For some reason she didn't want the night to end, not even with the last thing she did at the park, she was comfortable with him, she felt safe. She sighed and sat on the couch, closing her eyes. _'You like him' _she thought. "Of course I like him, he's a great guy. He's attentive, courteous, funny, gorgeous…" she said to herself and then widened her eyes at that last word. She shook her head and frowned. "NO!"

"Hey! Who's gorgeous?" her roommate said. He came out of his room with an open shirt on him and kisses all over his face.

"Gordon! Not this again! This is also my apartment, okay? You can't just get random girls in here without my consent"

"Shut up okay? If it wasn't for me you would be paying this whole place all by yourself"

"Jerk" she mumbled.

Gordon sat next to her and patted her shoulder. "So that guy, the green haired dude, is he your gorgeous boyfriend now?"

She jumped surprised and frowned "What? NO! He...He's just a friend. Besides that he's not interested, you know I'm not ready yet for a new relationship"

"Not interested huh? So then why did he give you a flower?"

"It's called being nice, Gordon"

"If you say so, Ness" He stood up and made his way to his room, "You better put some headphones on if you don't want to be disturbed"

"I swear to God I'm going to kill you someday" she angrily said and shut her room door.

* * *

Ferb woke up the next day with the happiest face he ever had, not only he got a date with Vanessa Doofenshmirtz, but also he was now going to try to win her heart. He never imagined he would be the kind of guy that falls in love just once in their lives until the day he saw Vanessa at the coffee shop. All the feelings that were once gone came back at the moment he heard _'Cappuccino'. _The hard thing was going to be hiding everything from Phineas and Isabella, at least until he gets something serious with his beloved lady. He stood up and started getting ready for the day. Every Sunday he and his brother usually go to several stores to get new tools and materials so they can create something at the afternoon. Ferb arrived to Isabella's apartment and knocked the door, which was opened by Phineas.

"Hey Ferb! Wow it's weird right? It's the first time we have to live in different places, come in!" he said.

Ferb did and they both sat on the kitchen table. Phineas pulled out a notebook and a pencil. "Okay, we need to get some screwdrivers and a new hammer drill. We also need to replace the half-round nose plier"

Ferb gave him a thumbs up.

"Great, let me go get my wallet and we can get going"

As Phineas left the room, his girlfriend came down and greeted Ferb. "Hi Ferb! How are you this morning?"

Ferb nodded and smiled.

"Good, did you have a nice time last night?" She laughed and placed her arm around his shoulders. "I'm very proud of you, you finally took the courage to ask her out"

Ferb suddenly felt nervous, his heart rate increased and his look was worried. _'How did she know?' _he thought.

"I really hope you guys formalize soon, it has been a while now, you know" she said with a teasing tone and then left the kitchen. "See you around, Romeo!"

Still confused, he saw his brother walking to the front door and calling him. "All set, Ferb! Let's go"

They parked the car and walked around the streets to different stores so they could find what they needed. As they walked, Phineas noticed his brother was very thoughtful about something he ignored. He wanted to ask him so badly about his date with Gretchen but he knew Ferb would respect his privacy if the situation was the other way around, plus he preferred to know every detail coming from his brother's mouth.

"Umm Ferb?" he said and saw his brother turning his head in response. "Are you okay? You are always so focused and it looks like you're thinking too much about something"

They stopped, Ferb stood in front of him and crossed his arms. "By any chance, did Isabella tell to you about something related to me?"

Phineas raised an eyebrow. "Related to you? What are you talking about?"

"What I meant was related to last night, about me having dinner with-"

"Vanessa?" Phineas said.

Ferb took a step back, his face turned blue. 'O_h dear lord' _he thought. How could they possibly know? He was leaving out the idea of both of them spying on him and he was pretty ambiguous about his date with Vanessa so they couldn't guess what he was talking about. He needed to find the right words to explain Phineas why he didn't tell him about her without hurting his feelings, he imagined that if Phineas would probably feel like he betrayed their confidence and he would never be able to talk to him ever again. Ferb began to panic, it was crystal clear that Phineas was going to find out soon, but this was not how he planned it. He thought it would be better if he didn't get his brother involved so that he could handle his advance with Vanessa in his own time level, but apparently everything was a bad idea.

"Phineas, I'll explain, you see-" he was interrupted by Phineas. "Look, it's Vanessa! You remember her right? She's over there!"

Ferb turned around to see the beautiful of his dreams coming out of a boutique with bags in her hands. He suddenly understood what his brother meant by saying her name out loud, it was his suspicions on if it really was Vanessa or not. He sighed loud in relief and his face went back to normal, it was just his imagination. Then he heard Phineas calling her name to get her attention to their direction.

"Vanessa! Over here!" Phineas shouted and they both walked across the street to meet her. Ferb heart was beating so fast when he saw her smile again in response.

"Oh! Hey guys, how's it goin'?" she smiled at Ferb then turned to Phineas. "Phineas it's been a while, it's good to see you"

'_Wait good to see me? What about Ferb?' _he thought. "Same for you, I think I had class with your father on High school"

"Yeah, he's still into that" she smiled. "So, Ferb told me you just moved in with your girlfriend, how is she?"

Both Phineas and Ferb widened their eyes. Phineas turned his head to see his brother. "Ferb told you that?"

"Yes, he told me he was having the place for his own last night since you moved in with Isabella"

"Um, yeah" Phineas was confused but smiled to pretend. "We're better than ever, thanks for asking"

"Good, I better get going, goodbye guys" She said and before she could turn around, Ferb spoke.

"Vanessa" he said.

"Yes Ferb?"

"Do you mind if I call you later?"

"Sure" she smiled and left the boys standing in front of the boutique.

Phineas was shocked, everything seemed to match in his head but wanted to make sure. "You saw her last night?"

Ferb closed his eyes and looked down his feet before Phineas continues. "I thought you had a date with Gre-" before he could finish he saw Ferb placing both of his hand on his shoulders, looking with pleading eyes.

"Don't mention this with anyone, am I clear? I'm begging you, brother" he said.

Phineas smiled and slightly grabbed his brother's arms. "Of course, Ferb. I can see this is important to you, you can trust me"

Ferb grinned and sighed. "Thanks, let's go get a new wrench set, my treat"

"Cool!"


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey darlings!**

**Here's Chapter #8 for you, please review! Btw, Thank you very much to all the readers and followers of this story. I love you all (:**

**I DO NOT OWN P&amp;F**

* * *

Chapter 8

Phineas spent the entire evening asking his brother about Vanessa Doofenshmirtz. There were so many questions in his head that needed to be answered for him to understand the kind of current 'relationship' Ferb had with her. Ferb tried to change the subject but the insistence of his brother was even more annoying than he ever thought it could be. Now that it was no longer a secret, there was no need to hide his intentions with Vanessa. He decided to take Phineas to the coffee shop he usually goes to and tell him everything since the day he saw her in that same place.

"So, Irving came to you when you were about to confirm if the girl in the line was Vanessa and because you couldn't do it, you were mean to Irving, right?"

Ferb nodded. "I'm aware that what I did was wrong," he said, "when I heard the girl's voice I really wanted her to be Vanessa."

"There's something I don't understand" Phineas said with a frown on his face.

Ferb looked up and put his cup on the table.

"I'm sorry to bring this up but, when you broke up with Angela I totally believed that you would have no problem finding the right girl for you. I liked Angela but if you didn't feel the same way as her then you did the right thing. I thought you would be doing fine and that you would find that special lady soon enough, but instead you close yourself into any opportunity standing right in front of you. You spent the last 2 years rejecting way too many girls that were interested in you and I didn't know why. Look, I know that it is none of my business and I'm okay with that, but still I have the right of worrying about you. It's really hard for me to understand why, out of nowhere, you get interested in a girl we used to know just because you saw her at a coffee shop."

When Phineas finished his statement, he crossed his arms like waiting for his brother to say something. Ferb had never talked about his feelings with anyone, not even Phineas. He knew that it was now time to tell his brother everything related to Vanessa but still he was afraid. There were so many things he wanted to say out loud but the truth was that not even he knew exactly how he felt about Vanessa. It was obvious that he thought of her like 'the one' for him but Phineas was right, he saw her at the coffee shop and suddenly felt like he knew her entirely, which was wrong. Before that day he knew nothing about her existence, but deep inside of him he was completely sure that it would be worth to get to know her again.

Ferb took a sip of his tea and cleared his throat. He turned his head and mumbled "I'm not interested in her just because I saw her there," He shut his eyes to take the courage to complete his phrase and then looked directly to his brother's eyes.

"I was in love with her"

Phineas' eyes widened in surprise. "You w-what?"

"I fell in love with Vanessa when I was ten years old, she was 16 then so it was impossible for me to become something more than a friend. I tried to tell her how I felt back when we were in Paris but she went off with someone else. That was the moment I realized it would be better for me to forget about her and continue with my life thinking about different stuff. Nine years later I met Angela and felt like she was going to be the one who could finally tear Vanessa away from my heart, and it looked like it was actually working until things got worse with her. I always refused to kiss her because I knew I would be forcing myself on doing it, which was making me uncomfortable with our relationship. The day we broke up was the same day I watched you kiss Isabella for the first time, and after that I understood that I could never be happy with Angela or anyone if I'm not truly committed. That day I decided to refuse to everything related to relationships until I could clear my head. After these past two years I really thought I was ready, but then Gretchen asked me out a few days ago and I refused again without knowing why I did it." He said.

"And do you know now?" Phineas asked.

"Later that day I heard Vanessa's voice at the coffee shop and the simple thought of seeing her again brought back the feelings I had for her. It made me think that they never went away."

"Ferb, are you telling me that you've been in love with Vanessa for eleven years?"

"Oh God no, Phineas. I'm saying that I still have feelings for her, but I can't call it 'love' since I barely know her now"

Phineas sat back on his seat and placed one hand on his chin. "Wow Ferb, I'm really impressed. I had no idea you felt like this"

"I apologize for being so reserved" Ferb said and looked down.

Phineas smiled "Oh come on, bro. That's totally fine, it was something personal and I'm never going to force you to tell me something you want to keep for yourself."

Ferb smiled.

"Hey look, if you are really interested in her then I'm happy that you're trying to impress her. It would be awesome if you two get together and well, you already had a date with her last night, so keep it up man."

"Thank you brother"

"You're very welcome Ferb, and don't worry, I won't say a word of this." Phineas said and drank from his coffee cup, then stood up and looked over his brother. "By the way, I know what we're going to do today"

They left the coffee shop when Phineas asked Ferb to drive to Isabella's place. Ferb was confused on what his brother was planning but was pretty sure it would be brilliant, whatever it was. He parked the car and saw Phineas leaving the vehicle without saying anything. Ferb got out of the car but before he could follow Phineas, he turned around with a big smile on his face.

"I'll tell you what we're doing, I'm going to stay home while you go and call Vanessa for another date, how about that?" he said. Ferb blinked twice in surprise and lifted a finger to respond, but suddenly his brother spoke again.

"No buts, okay? You told her you were going to call her, remember? Then do it, I'll see you tomorrow at school" and without letting Ferb reply, Phineas opened the door of his apartment and went inside.

Ferb grinned and pulled out his phone.

_***beep* *beep***_

_Hello?_

"Hello Vanessa"

_Ferb? Hi! I was just thinking about you._

"You were?"

_Well, yeah. You paid for dinner last night so I was thinking that maybe I could get dinner for the two of us, how does that sound?_

"That would be lovely"

_Great, send me a text with your address and I'll be there in an hour._

"Of course, see you then"

_Bye Ferb._

_***End of the call***_

* * *

Ferb took another shower to make himself look presentable for Vanessa, he cleaned as much as he could the kitchen, the living room, the restroom and at last, his room. He was giving a hard thought on taking care of how his room looked just because Vanessa was visiting, but he imagined that if he had to show her the entire apartment, it would be appropriate to have his room clean, besides Ferb wouldn't force her to get into his room for some other disrespectful reason, ever. He finally finished cleaning properly his entire apartment when he heard the doorbell and a voice coming from outside.

"Ferb? It's me, open the door"

He looked one last time in the mirror to check his look and then opened the door. He saw Vanessa holding 2 large pizza boxes and a bottle of wine.

"Surprise! I hope you like the special choice I made for dinner" she said with a big smile.

Ferb smirked. "It's perfect. Please, come in"

She placed their food on a coffee table in front of the couch and waited for Ferb, who was getting their wine glasses. She looked around the living room and watched carefully every single corner of it, Ferb's apartment was very futuristic. The walls, floors and ceilings were black and white, the wood furniture was has hand carved and painted, there were lights everywhere and he had a huge television right in front of the couch. She saw the wall right next to her had pictures hanging on it, there was a picture of Phineas and Isabella, one of his parents, one of Candace and her husband Jeremy, and a blank space. She noticed maybe there was a picture there but someone eventually took it away. Suddenly she felt Ferb sitting right next to her.

"Do you like my apartment?" he asked and gave her a glass of wine.

"I do! I want to believe that you actually gave this apartment, you know, your personal touch. Am I right?"

"Guilty as charged" he smiled.

"It's amazing, by the way, why is there an empty spot next to those pictures?" She said and pointed out the wall.

Ferb looked up and shrugged right away. "It was supposed to be for a picture of mine, but I still don't have one"

"Why is that?"

"Well, that is because I still don't have a person to take a picture with like the rest of my family, I placed one before but it was just me and Perry"

Vanessa raised an eyebrow "Perry?"

"My platypus"

"YOU'RE THE OWNER OF PERRY THE PLATYPUS?" She cried out.

"Well yes, why do you ask?"

"You are never going to believe this, but my father is an evil scientist that has tried for years to rule the entire Tri-State Area and there's this agent that is always destroying the Inators my dad creates to finally achieve his goal. The agent's name is 'Perry the Platypus'. He belongs to the O.W.C.A."

"O.W.C.A?" he asked.

"The Organization Without a Cool Acronym" she responded and then widened his eyes toward Ferb, "WAIT! That's the only thing you got from what I just said?"

"Well, I thought you father was a pharmacist"

Vanessa facepalmed. "I'm saying that your pet is most likely my dad's nemesis, and no, my dad is not a pharmacist"

Ferb took his glass and sat back on his seat. "Actually I'm not surprised, he disappeared every day probably to stop your father"

"Oh, well in that case I can tell you, I liked your pet. He was a very good friend of mine"

They both smiled and started to eat their pizza. They spent the evening under the light of some candles talking about their likes and dislikes, about their family and related friends. The more they talked, the more wine they drank. They were laughing at everything because of how tipsy they were, they even ended up sitting in the floor leaning on the couch right next to each other.

"Then my sister Candace appeared and saw me giving a monkey a shower" Ferb said in between laughs.

Vanessa giggled "You really had an interesting childhood, Ferb"

Ferb nodded and stared at Vanessa for a few minutes, she suddenly noticed his look and met his eyes.

"You are so wonderful, Vanessa" he said

Vanessa's cheeks went red and then laughed. "Get outta here"

"I'm serious," he placed his hand on her cheek to make her meet his eyes again, "you are beautiful"

She smiled and placed a hand on his cheek. She suddenly reacted and pulled her hand back, she was drunk and under its effect she could do something she would regret. She stood up and started walking toward the door, grabbing her coat and purse. Ferb, surprised on her attitude, stood up too and went after her.

"Vanessa?...Vanessa are you alright?" he said

"I'm sorry Ferb I gotta go. Look it's getting late and we both had too many glasses of wine, we are not acting like ourselves and I don't want to do anything that we won't remember or that we could regret, you get it right?"

Ferb nodded.

"I'll just take a cab okay? Good night" She turned around but felt a hand grabbing hers. She looked up to see Ferb holding her hand.

"I had a marvelous evening, thanks for coming by" he said.

She smiled but didn't reply, she just turned around and walked out of the apartment. Her smile was enough for Ferb to know that she felt the same way. She was right, the alcohol in their systems would've caused many things that they probably wouldn't remember the next day. Ferb wanted to remember every wonderful moment with her no matter what, but there was a thought in his head that something was really bothering Vanessa and wanted to figure out what that was, there was something inside of her that was stopping her from expressing her feelings freely. Ferb didn't care about how long it would take, he was going to figure it out so that he could win her heart once and for all.


	9. Chapter 9

**Hi everyone! (:**

**Here's Chapter 9 for you, please review!**

**NOTE: Thanks for all your reviews, they really mean a lot to me. 3**

**I DO NOT OWN P&amp;F**

* * *

Chapter 9

The night before he texted Vanessa to make sure she made it to her apartment safely but she never answered. He tried calling her a couple of times but no one picked up. It seemed to Ferb that she either was in some kind of trouble or situation so that she couldn't answer or she was ignoring him for some reason. His behavior probably freaked her out since she is used to a different, reserved and polite Ferb. Alcohol not only makes him more talkative, even more than what he usually gets when he is around Vanessa, but releases intimate emotions he normally suppress for his own comfort. He decided not to insist and left his phone on top of the dresser.

The next day he woke up early for school. Now that Phineas was not around anymore, Ferb didn't have to wait to use the shower, he didn't have to prepare breakfast for two or more people and mostly important, he didn't have to wait for anyone to get to college in time. The thing that he always liked about college was the idea of graduating before many of other students on his class. When both Phineas and Ferb arrived the first day of school at the university, the rector called them out to congratulate them for the satellite they created and offer them to be directly in higher courses due to their past excellent school performance and high intellectual capacity. Phineas decided not to take the offer so that he could live his entire college experience with Isabella at the same level, but Ferb had other plans. He wanted to finish school early, he needed it. He thought that it would be convenient so that he could go to England and get another engineering major there. Of course, he didn't know Vanessa was going to suddenly emerge in his world, which could influence a lot on his plans, or not due to their last date.

He got to his locker and took some books for his first class. The idea of knowing nothing about Vanessa was killing him, but the idea of his behavior being the cause of her indifference was destroying his heart. Even if he was just supposing, he felt like he might have crossed the line a little bit, pushing her into something maybe she's not interested. It was something he couldn't control anymore, her presence was his weakness and her perfume his drug, he just felt hypnotized with her voice and with just snap of fingers he could do anything for her, just like old times. Suddenly he felt a vibration coming from his pocket. It was a text on his phone. Without blinking he immediately took the phone out to check the text. _'Please, be Vanessa'_ he thought.

**_*Hey bro! How did everything go with Vanessa? Btw Izzy and I are going to grab a bite after classes, wanna join us? –Phineas*_**

Ferb sighed in disillusion then shook his head. He couldn't act so selfish without even knowing what was going on, so it would be better for him if he just focus on school for now until he gets news from her. He closed the locker and before he could turn around he heard a soft voice calling him from behind.

"Good morning Ferb"

He jumped frightened in surprise then turned around to see Gretchen holding some books, making him sigh in relief. Her eyes grieved to his reaction then continued, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you I just wanted...um…I just…" her cheeks turned red and looked down.

Ferb smiled and searched for her glance until Gretchen looked up again. "It was nothing, forgive me for reacting that way. It was completely discourteous" he said.

"Oh no, no! Don't worry about it," they started walking across the hall then she continued, "Um Ferb I wanted, you know if it's okay with you, to sit with you in our next class" she said grinning and stood in front of him to stop him. "What do you say?"

Ferb couldn't help but nod and continued walking with her to the classroom. He was aware of Gretchen's intentions and she was one of the kindest girls in their group of friends, actually she was the only one that always cared for him when they were kids. However, he had no heart to tell her he didn't feel the same way. The idea of losing her friendship and making her feel sad was unacceptable for him, so much so that it was hard for him to say no every time she asked him out for a date even if he knew he had to. Ferb would never be able to play with her feelings by going out with her if he wasn't the guy she deserved. The only thing he could do was be polite to her and act like a simple friend.

At the end of the class, Phineas and Isabella were walking through the hallway in direction of her next class when they stopped in front of a door. They watched some students getting up from their seats after hearing the teacher saying the class was over.

"Look Phineas," She excitedly said and pointed out the crystal on the door, "It's Ferb, and he was sitting with Gretchen! Oh my, they look so cute together"

"What?" he said and took a look through the door. He nervously bit his bottom lip remembering that he never told Isabella that Ferb's date was not Gretchen. He couldn't do it even if he wanted to due to what he promised to his brother. He turned around and grabbed his girlfriend by her arm.

"Oh yeah, haha, you know, they're about to get out of the room we should just leave them alone" he said and pulled from her arm to walk away from the room.

"Phineas! Wait!" she said and released from his embrace. "Let's hide over there, I want to see them getting out of there. Oh, can you imagine them holding hands? Oh my god can't wait, come on!"

"No, Isabella we can't-" he stopped talking after being pulled by Isabella right behind some lockers near the room. Both of them suddenly watched Ferb and Gretchen coming out and standing right in front of the room. While Phineas had a worried look, Isabella was all excited listening carefully their conversation.

"_Sometimes I don't know how you always know exactly what the professor is about to say, you're so brilliant Ferb" _she said and lowered her head.

"_That is very kind of you, thank you"_

"_I hope I could be just as smart as you are someday"_

"_Well, given that you're also taking higher level courses, I can see that your intelligence stands out clearly"_

Isabella immediately frowned and looked confused at Phineas. '_Is that the way he speaks to his girlfriend? It's ridiculous!' _she thought. She looked back to continue listening.

"_It's true but, well, it's just that you are smarter and…um… Forget it" _she said and watched Ferb taking his phone out. He looked like if he was checking something important. "_Ferb?"_

Ferb blinked twice then turned his head back to her. _"Forgive me, did you say something?"_

"_You were looking at your cellphone all class, everything okay?"_

He nodded. "_I have to excuse myself, do you mind?"_

Gretchen sighed, "_Sure, go ahead. Um, see you later" _ then saw the green haired boy walking away from her. She suddenly turned around surprised by a familiar voice.

"Gretchen!" Isabella said and walked towards her, Phineas was following her. "What's going on here?"

"What are you talking about?" she asked.

"Izzy, dear, I don't think it's-" Phineas tried to interfere with no success.

"How could he talk to you like that after having dinner with you?" Isabella continued and crossed her arms.

Gretchen and Phineas widened their eyes, she immediately spoke up. "W-what!? What are you saying Isabella?"

Isabella raised an eyebrow. "I thought it was you the one who had a date with Ferb last weekend"

"FERB IS DATING SOMEONE?!" Gretchen cried out. She just couldn't believe it, after all those years trying to win Ferb's heart the only thing she gets is the news of him dating some other girl. She turned around and left the spot as fast as she could without even saying good bye or listening the rest of the conversation.

"Oh man"

"I don't understand. Phineas do you have any idea of what just happened?" Isabella asked and turned to her boyfriend.

Phineas had a hand on his face with his eyes closed. He glanced at her and held her hands, "Isabella, I'm really not the right person to answer that question. You should probably go and ask Ferb."

* * *

After classes, Isabella looked for Ferb in so many places to talk to him but she never found him. She went to his apartment, to the mall, the book shop, the coffee shop, even the tools store but there was no sign of Ferb. She almost gave up until she saw his car parked near the park. She walked out of the car and saw him sitting on a bench with the phone on his hands. Isabella stepped closer to him but Ferb didn't look up.

"Hey, I've been looking for you. I wanted to talk to you about something" she said

Ferb just nodded without looking at her.

"Phineas is your brother and best friend, and since we were kids you have always helped him and been there for him just to see him happy, am I right? Well, it's almost the same for me and Gretchen. She's my closest friend and I want her to be happy. Maybe she'll kill me for telling you this but, she has a big crush on you and-"

"I know that" he interrupted.

She widened her eyes then frowned. "Then can you explain to me why haven't you done anything about it?"

Ferb got upset by her question but stayed calmed still looking at the floor.

"I've seen you two walking down in the hallway and sitting together on your classes but still you always say no when she asks you out, so what's the deal?"

He stood up and glanced at her with an angry look. "Do you want me to go out with her? Do you want me to pretend that I love her?"

Isabella was completely perplexed. She never thought Ferb could react that way, knowing how calm he always was. Before she could answer, he continued. "Well, pardon me Isabella, but I can't. Whether you like it or not, I can't force myself to like Gretchen. I feel terrible, I do, but there is no way I can correspond to her feelings now that Vanessa is all I can think about."

"Vanessa?"

His eyes popped open after thinking about what he just said and his cheeks turned red. He closed his eyes right away to relax and sat back down on the bench. He saw by the corner of his eye that Isabella was sitting next to him. She placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Ferb," she said, "are you talking about Vanessa Doofenshmirtz?"

He turned his head to look at her, she continued. "Oh, come on. Don't look at me like that, she's the only 'Vanessa' we actually know."

"It's true"

"So you and Vanessa went out for dinner the other day?"

He nodded. "I apologize for being rude"

"Don't worry about it, it was my fault." She said and grabbed Ferb's hand. "Hey, if you like her that much, you should totally tell her how you feel. I'm pretty sure you two can get together."

Ferb looked at his phone and close his eyes. "I hardly think so. She won't even talk to me right now and I don't know why"

"Have you tried going to her house?"

He shook his head. "If she doesn't want to talk to me, I don't want to bother her"

"Maybe she's busy, she's older than us so she's probably working or something like that. Don't feel bad, I'm sure she'll call you" Isabella smiled and squeezed his hand.

Ferb smiled back. After they finished talking he walked her up to her car and saw her leaving the park. He felt more relieved now that his two best friends knew about his feelings because now he had nothing to hide. He stopped worrying about Vanessa's call right after remembering her smile the day she left his apartment. She didn't seem to have any problem with him before and he definitely not considering what Isabella said. He thought that maybe he was exaggerating with the situation, it wasn't her obligation to let him know everything about her, and they were not officially boyfriend-girlfriend after all.

* * *

Ferb went into his room and put his backpack and phone on the bed. He sat on his desk and started working on some pending projects he had to get done for school, it was the easiest way to keep Vanessa out of his mind for a while. He worked on it until it was time for dinner, then left the room and made it to the kitchen to find something to eat. After that he took a shower and put some pajamas on so that he could get some sleep. At the moment he went back to his room, he saw something that made his heart skip a beat. His phone was vibrating.

***1 New Message***


	10. Chapter 10

**Hi there!**

**Before anything I'd like to thank you all for your support, you guys are really nice.**

**I know some people might hate Cliffhangers but, isn't that the exciting part of a story? Hahaha :3 ****Btw for those who are feeling bad for Gretchen, I totally get it, but I have some plans for her in future chapters. ;)**

**Here's Chapter #10 for y'all. Please review!**

**I DO NOT OWN P&amp;F**

* * *

Chapter 10

He stood in front of the bed staring at the cellphone for a few seconds. At that moment he didn't know what to do, if it was Vanessa, he could finally know what happened to her after the day she left his apartment and probably figure out why she was ignoring him. On the other hand, if it wasn't Vanessa, he would feel even worse than before knowing how much he was expecting any sign of her and still wasn't getting it. He sighed and calmly reached his phone and looked at it. It was not Vanessa's number. It was a text from someone not registered in his contacts.

_***I know it might be a little late but, can I call you?* -Unknown Number**_

Ferb instantly pressed reply and wrote the person back. _***Sure thing*, **_hoping to hear one more time the beautiful voice of the girl of his dreams. However, the mysterious person behind the message never called. He sat on the bed with the phone in his hand waiting, he even tried to call the person but he/she never picked up. He spent the whole hour playing with his fingers and looking his feet in nervousness, the query was killing him. What could he possibly say? He didn't want to act all desperate trying to figure who that person was just to see if it was indeed her, he was pretty sure that his heart rate would increase so much that he could have a panic attack. Since he didn't want that to happen, he decided to lay down and grab a book so that he could stay distracted while waiting for the call. Unfortunately, his sleepy eyes betrayed him after a few minutes and he fell asleep without even noticing.

The light from outside his window woke him up. He immediately remembered what he was doing the night before and groaned placing a hand on his face. He took the phone but much to his surprise, there were no missed calls, no texts, nothing. He didn't try to call again, it was probably someone that wanted to reach a different person and realized that the number was wrong. He simply put the phone down and stepped out of the bed. It was now two days since the last time Ferb saw Vanessa and he just couldn't handle it anymore, he decided to look for her after school to finally know what was going on.

* * *

"I still don't understand why you're mad at me," Phineas said to his girlfriend, both of them walking in the main hallway of Tri-State State. "You finally know what's going on between Ferb and Vanessa, so why are you angry?"

"I'm surprised you're even asking that!" she replied. "First, you didn't tell me the truth about Ferb's date. Second, I ruining Gretchen's life and you didn't stop me…"

"Actually, I tried but-"

"Silence!" she yelled, making Phineas jumping scared and closing his mouth right away, then they arrived to Isabella's locker and she continued. "And third, I'm mad at you because we are supposed to be couple and you're supposed to trust me enough to share everything with me but apparently you don't"

Phineas looked down and put a hand on the back of his head. "Izzy, it's not that I don't trust you…"

"Then what is it?"

"The day I discovered the truth, I promised Ferb that I would keep his secret away from anyone, even you. When he asked me not to tell anyone, I saw in his eyes that it was something really important to him. He's my brother, Isabella, I'm sure he would do the exact same thing for me."

Isabella sighed and looked at him with a smile on her face. "You're right, Phineas. I'm sorry"

He pulled her from the waist and planted a kiss on her lips, she dropped her books to the floor in surprise but then responded to the kiss embracing him. When they broke the kiss, he spoke. "It's alright, I know that you were actually mad because of what happened to your friend."

"Ugh yeah," Isabella closed her locker and leaned on it. "I tried to call her yesterday but her phone was always dead, like if she changed her number or something like that."

Right at the same time they talked, Gretchen was walking in direction to the main hallway. She looked terrible. Her face was all gloomy and her eyes looked like she spent the entire night crying. After she found out that Ferb, the guy she adored, was dating someone else, her heart broke entirely. She always thought that patience and usual persistence would help her winning Ferb's heart, but apparently she had been doing the wrong thing. Even though she knew he was rejecting her because of someone else, she always saw Ferb being single and with no girl around, but obviously never knew how much it would hurt the difference between theory and reality. She didn't even know who that girl was, and she desperately needed to figure it out. She was about to turn into the corner of the aisle when she saw Phineas and Isabella talking near her locker room. She stepped forward to get to them but she heard from distance that they were talking about Ferb and decided to hide behind a locker to hear their conversation.

"_You know that Gretchen likes Ferb since we were kids, she always talked about how handsome Ferb looked, how cute his British accent was and all that stuff, we actually talked about you guys all the time. We always supported each other and yesterday I broke her heart. I feel like the worst friend ever."_

"_Isabella, don't blame yourself. It was a mistake and that's all, everybody makes them. Also, it's not your fault that Ferb is not interested in her." Phineas said._

"_Well, at least now we know everything about Ferb's lucky girl"_

"_I still can't believe it. Ferb fell in love with Vanessa when we were kids but she was way older than all of us. Now that he saw her again, he will try to, you know, fulfill his dream."_

Gretchen's eyes were wide open at the moment she heard it. She spent almost her entire life trying to be with Ferb when he was already in love with this Vanessa. She had no idea of who Vanessa was and never knew of someone near to Ferb with that name, but it seemed to her that she probably was an interesting character if Ferb was so in to her.

"_You're kidding! That is so sweet." Isabella's smile went away almost immediately and then continued. "Oh, it is hard to be happy for Ferb and at the same time feel bad for Gretchen."_

"_You'll talk to her, I'm sure everything will be fine" he said and held Isabella's hand, they started walking away from her locker. "You know, Vanessa's father was a teacher on our High school. I had a physics class with him."_

Gretchen took a deep breath and then turn around to meet them in the hallway. "Hey guys" she said.

The couple turned their heads to meet the brown haired girl standing behind them. Isabella walked back right away to reach her. "Gretchen! How are you doing?"

"I'm good Isabella, how about you?"

"Not so good actually, you see Gretchen, I wanted to-" she couldn't finish her sentence when she saw her friend hugging her all of a sudden.

"Don't say anything girl," Gretchen interrupted, "I'm fine, you don't have to worry about it okay? Let's just forget it" she said with a small grin on her face.

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely"

"O-okay then, see you around" Isabella hugged her back and then left her behind to continue walking with her boyfriend. She was now aware of what Isabella thought and understood the reasons for her to say what she said the day before, Gretchen had no reason to be mad at her, either way they were best friends. The look on Gretchen's face changed at the moment they turned around, she remembered that there was only one physics professor on their High school and she could probably contact him to figure out who his daughter was. She was going to find Vanessa no matter what.

* * *

Something inside Ferb wasn't processing why he was acting that way, right after school he took his car and drove all the way to Vanessa's apartment. Even if he already had in mind that it was none of his business what she was doing, the less he knew about her, the more he wanted to find her and never let her go again. The idea of love he once had for her a long time ago seemed to come into view that day, he couldn't wait anymore to see her marvelous blue eyes, the natural red color of her lips, the shine on her perfect brown hair, the smoothness of her skin. He parked the car in front of her place and got out of the car, he stood right next to it staring directly to the door. He thought once again what he was about to do and regretted it for a moment. His heart was beating very fast and his legs were shaking, but he finally closed the car door and stepped closer to the apartment to press the doorbell.

Her roommate opened the door, he was half dressed and there was loud music coming from inside the place. "Hey," he said. "you're Nessa's friend, um…"

Ferb rolled his eyes. "My name is Ferb, Gordon"

"Sure, whatever. So what are you doing here?"

He sighed and finally said "I would like to speak to Vanessa"

"Sorry man, she's not here. She usually leaves for work and rarely spends the afternoon here."

Ferb looked at him from head to foot and to the inside of the apartment, then crossed his arms. "I can see why"

Gordon's brow furrowed. "Oh really? And why is that?"

"The idea of living with such a careless character like yourself might be repellent not just for her but for everyone"

"Watch your words, fancy boy" Gordon tightened his fists and stared angrily at Ferb. "I'm not gonna waste my time with you, look a guy picked her up earlier today and I don't know where she is okay? Now get out of here." He went in and shut the door on Ferb's face.

Ferb stood stunned by the door, his hands were shaking and his jaw slightly dropped. It was so hard for him to believe that the situation he lived at the Eiffel tower so many years before was happening again. Vanessa went off with someone else and he couldn't do anything about it. He slowly turned around and jumped into the car. He drove as fast as he could to get to his apartment, once he arrived he went upstairs and locked himself in his room. There were so many questions in his head, he just calmed down and sat on his bed analyzing what Gordon said. _'A guy picked her up, it could be just a friend, like me' _he thought. Then he shut his eyes and close his fists '_Or maybe her new boyfriend picked her up'. _He pulled out his phone and dialed a number.

_***beep* *beep***_

_Hello?_

"Phineas"

_Ferb! I was just thinking about you. Listen I was thinking about what we should do next weekend, it's a machine that-"_

"Can you come over?"

_Bro, what happened? Are you okay?_

"Can you?"

_Of course! I'm on my way._

_***End of the call***_

* * *

Phineas entered to the apartment and quickly looked for his brother upstairs, he saw Ferb sitting on the floor leaning on his bed. He sat next on the bed right next to him and placed his hand on Ferb's shoulder. Ferb explained to him what happened since the last time he saw Vanessa and what her roommate said earlier that evening. While he was doing it, Ferb's voice went lower in sadness and concern.

"Do you really think she has a new boyfriend?" Phineas asked.

Ferb didn't answer, his eyes looked down.

"See? You don't even know if she's dating someone else and you're sad already"

Ferb looked up. "What else could it be? She has not spoken to me, we have not seen each other-"

"And apparently she's free enough to hang out with other guys. So what? She can do whatever she wants, she's not your girlfriend"

"Wow, I appreciate that, Phineas." Ferb said and frowned at his brother.

Phineas facepalmed and then sat in front of him. "Ferb, let me ask you something"

Ferb nodded.

"Do you love her?"

He widened his eyes, then opened his mouth to talk but didn't answer.

"Ferb? Do you love Vanessa Doofenshmirtz?"

He remained in silence while his face turned bright red, then turned his head to look away.

Phineas chuckled and continued. "Well, I know you do. Are you going to give up on her just like that? Let me tell you something, bro. Maybe I was way to oblivious when we were ten to see how much you liked her at that time, but what I see right now in your eyes is love. Not to be pedantic, but I think I know what I'm talking about, I see it on Isabella's eyes every day. If you don't feel comfortable saying it out loud because you think it is too soon, then don't do it, but if you really think that I'm going to let my brother sink into his own sadness just because he's imagining the worst, then you're wrong."

Ferb smiled and stood up. Phineas did as well then continued. "I want you to call her tomorrow because if you don't, I will do it. You don't want that, do you?"

"Oh heavens, no." he said and offered his hand to his brother. "You are right. For the record, I'm not going to bother her, but I will do my best."

Phineas shook hands with him and smiled back. "Oh and, stop being so dramatic. Who could have imagined that a girl would turn Ferb Fletcher into a crybaby?"

He raised an eyebrow and punched Phineas' arm. "Take that back"

"OW! OKAY! I take it back"

The two brothers had dinner together at Ferb's place and worked on many projects they had in mind for future weekends, they really missed spending that much time together but at the same time understood that it was something expected for the two of them. Phineas was now making his life with Isabella and Ferb, well, was working on it, but still they will always be best friends and that was something untouchable. A storm hit Danville after a few hours and Phineas decided to head back home. After cleaning the kitchen and turning all the lights off, Ferb took a shower and prepared for bed.

It was two o'clock in the morning when a noise from downstairs woke him up. He sat up straight and yawned, he couldn't hear the noise too much because of the strong rain from outside. He stood up and took a quick look to the stairs. The noise was clear at the moment he exited his room, there was someone knocking the door. He quickly made his way downstairs and walked towards the door.

"Who is this?" he said. There was no answer.

He was about to go back to his room when the person from outside knocked the door again. After this, he opened the door and couldn't believe what he saw next. There was a girl standing in front of him, she was soaking wet and also crying. She was embracing her arms and her legs were shaking, she also looked like she just ran a marathon because of her fast breathing. It was too dark for Ferb to figure out who the girl was, also she was looking down her feet.

"Can I help you?" he said and tipped the girl's chin. She looked up and Ferb gave a step back when their eyes met.

"Help me, Ferb" she cried.

"Vanessa!? What happened to you!?"


	11. Chapter 11

**Hey everyone!**

**It's been a while, huh? **

**I present to you Chapter #11, another whole Ferbnessa chapter. Just to let you know, I'll be posting Chapter 12 tomorrow and it will have a special character, actually one of my favorite P&amp;F characters ;) Please review!**

* * *

Chapter 11

Before she could answer, Ferb put his hands on her shoulders and started checking her entirely, looking for any bumps or scratches. Afterwards he realized she wasn't hurt and their eyes met, he stood stock-still admiring those beautiful eyes, shining under the moonlight. Vanessa was still crying. It was very hard for Ferb to see her in those conditions, it was the first time he saw Vanessa shed tears and just didn't know how to handle the situation. He unconsciously felt overprotective with her and pulled her close for a warm hug. She hugged him back and buried her face on his chest, she could feel his heart beating really fast, which calmed her down a little. The hug lasted for just a couple of minutes until he broke the embrace and looked directly to her eyes, she could see that now both of them were all wet because of the rain and opened her mouth to apologize, but again before she could say a word, Ferb took her inside the apartment. They walked directly to the living room, he motioned her to sit down and so she did.

"Please wait here while I get you some towels, alright?" he said.

She just nodded and watched him leave. She couldn't help noticing how the wet t-shirt was sticking to his body and noticed how manly he looked now. Obviously he looked so much different than a 10 year-old boy but she didn't pay that much attention to his body since they saw each other again. He was definitely not a kid anymore, Ferb was now a very attractive man. She looked down to see her hands and the image of the previous hug with Ferb popped in her head. She let out a small grin when suddenly she heard someone approaching to the room. She turned her head to see Ferb holding some towels on his right shoulder and on his hands a tray with 2 cups.

He sat on an empty spot of the couch and placed a towel around Vanessa. "This will help for now" he said.

"Ferb, you're soaked. I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to bother you but-" she stopped when she felt Ferb's hand on hers.

"I care more about knowing what happened to you" he said.

She sighed and looked down. "Gordon kicked me out of the apartment,"

Ferb widened his eyes and she continued. "It didn't sound so bad at the beginning, I was getting tired of living with him. He always invited girls over without even asking me if I was okay with it. It's not that he had to ask me or anything like that, it's just that he was always sleeping with a different girl, doing his mess and being noisy all night long. He was also half naked around the place the entire day, there were empty bottles of beer everywhere and junk food all over the floor. It was hell."

"Why were you living with him?"

"Well, it's a long story. I went to college in Alaska, sadly I lost touch with most of my friends. The day I got back to Danville I had to find a place to stay the night and all the friends I knew had their own lives then, there was no one I could call to catch up. I visited my dad to ask him if I could live with him until I could find a place for myself, but he was sharing the penthouse with his actual girlfriend and I just couldn't invade his privacy."

"Please, Vanessa. He is your father."

"I know, but still it didn't feel right." She said and took a sip from her cup. "Anyways, my mother was no longer living in this city so I had no place to go. I decided to stay at a hotel until I could find an apartment and I almost spent an entire week looking for it, believe it or not, it was really hard to find a suitable place to live on the newspaper. Luckily I found Gordon's announcement, he was looking for a roommate and he needed it as soon as possible. I called him and he asked me to meet him at a coffee shop to seal the deal. He was very nice and we got along pretty well, he even let me pay less than what he needed under one condition."

Ferb raised an eyebrow and gulped. She chuckled and continued. "Relax, he asked me to take care of the kitchen, that's all."

"What happened then?" he said.

"His girlfriend broke up with him about a year ago, he was devastated. After that he became a complete different person, he quit his job, he started drinking, he stopped taking care of himself and of course, he became a womanizer. Even though he always respected me as a friend, there were moments where both of us yelled at each other discussing about his situation. He always acted like he didn't care until today. Apparently he was having a party and the whole place was filled with strippers, but Gordon wasn't there. I was obviously mad but I knew that I needed to calm down and look for him to make sure he wasn't doing something crazy…I raged when I saw him banging a stripper on my bed."

"What?" Ferb asked surprised.

"Yeah, Gordon was even more furious at me for 'interrupting' him. We had a fight, he told me that I always ruin everything, that I was the most annoying person in the world and how sick he was of having me there. All of a sudden he demanded me to get out of the apartment. I had no place to go so I tried to calm him down but I couldn't. He didn't even let me pack my stuff, before I could notice I was already behind the front door." She said.

He clenched his fists and shut his eyes trying to contain his anger, Vanessa looked at him and her eyes watered. "I know it's lame but I didn't know what to do, and I'm also aware that I haven't been in touch with you but I really needed your help. I needed you."

Ferb opened his eyes after hearing what she said and met her eyes right away, he saw tears falling from her cheeks.

"I'm sorry for bothering you, Ferb. I truly am." She cried and covered her face with her hands.

"Stop it"

When she turned to him, he added, "Vanessa, it means a lot to me that you considered me as your first option. Besides, I'm always willing to help you out in any kind of circumstances"

"Well," She said and wiped her tears off, "I guess this is not the first time you have saved my life" she smiled. "Thank you, Ferb"

He smiled back. "You're very welcome." Then he stood up and offered her his hand. "Let me show you where the bathroom is, you should take a shower before you catch a cold."

"But, I don't have any…"

He continued. "Clothes. I know. Follow me, please."

And so she did. Vanessa held his hand and walked right behind Ferb, who was taking her upstairs directly to the bathroom. For a moment, he thought that having the girl of his dreams right there, at his house, was the result of life giving him a second chance to win her heart. He knew that Vanessa was still hiding something from him, probably the reason why she has been avoiding him in the last days, but he thought maybe it was not the right time to ask her or to talk about it, the only think that mattered was to have her safe with him. They made it to a door at the end of the hall, Vanessa saw that he had a small smile on his face and then he turned to meet her eyes.

"Here we are," he said and walked away from her in direction to the stairs, then turned his head over his shoulder to see her confused face. "Just press the green button. You will be fine."

* * *

She entered to the 'bathroom' and turned on the lights. Her eyes widened in surprise when she saw a white empty room, with no toilet, no sink, no shower or tub. She looked at every corner of the room before thinking it was probably a joke, then the first thing she saw right next to her was a bright green button on the wall, she sighed and slowly approached her hand to the button. After this, the lights went off and the only thing she could see was a red laser scanning her entire body. She didn't know how to react to such a weird experience when suddenly she heard a voice coming from the ceiling.

_Analyzing… Result: Vanessa Doofenshmirtz_

"What!?" she cried and started shaking, she wasn't scared but she just couldn't understand what was happening.

_Hello Vanessa, Welcome to the Flynn-Fletcher's residence. _

She blinked twice. "Really?"

_Preparing personalized bathroom. _

The white room was now turning into a bright cream room, the moving walls turned around to show beautiful cream porcelain tile all over them. Like the entire apartment, the bathroom was also futuristic, a wide shower and a Jacuzzi appeared from nowhere, so did the sink and the toilet. There was a huge mirror on one side of the room, right next to a small closet with new bathrobes, slippers, flip flops, nightdresses, everything a girl would need. Over to the sink there was a cabinet with new common bathroom items, such as toothpaste, toothbrush, soap, shampoo conditioner, strangely those items were exactly the same as the ones she used at her place, which kind of freaked her out. Last but not least, there were speakers on the ceiling playing Vanessa's favorite music. Her jaw dropped after seeing how awesome the room changed in just a few seconds, she smiled amazed and felt free to take everything she needed.

* * *

Ferb decided to wait for her downstairs, he lay down on the couch with his head resting on one arm of the couch and one leg stretched out, his hands were clasped over his stomach. He kept looking at the ceiling thinking of Vanessa and what she said previously about needing him. He never thought she could feel that way for him, but still he didn't want to rush into thinking about something that probably he was making up in his head. The idea of Vanessa being at his house was driving him crazy, he couldn't find a way to describe how happy he was. Lost in his thoughts, he finally closed his eyes.

When she finished, Vanessa grabbed her wet clothes and slowly made her way to the living room, she spotted the living room and saw Ferb resting on the couch. She immediately started walking on the tips of her toes toward him to check if he was asleep.

"Ferb?" she whispered. He didn't move. She sat on the floor facing him and sighed, he was way cuter when he was sleeping. She passed a hand over his cheek, his skin was even softer than she ever thought, as if he were still a child. She definitely had feelings for him but yet she didn't know if it was right for her to feel that way. Ferb was not just a friend, or at least she no longer saw him like one, he was somehow a very special person for her. She felt the need to explain everything to him, in fact there were so many things he didn't know and she wanted to say to him. He deserved an explanation, but maybe it wasn't the moment to get into that subject. She stood up and quietly walked directly to the door.

"Where do you think you are going?" Ferb said, still lying on the couch with his eyes closed.

"Actually, I-I-"

He sat up straight and looked at her. "It's two thirty in the morning, Vanessa."

"I know but I've bothered you enough. Besides, you have to get some sleep, you have school tomorrow."

"Once again, you are not bothering me." He stood up and crossed his arms. "It is not safe to be walking alone down the street so late and, forgive me, but I'm not going to let that happen."

"Fine, you win." She muttered.

Ferb sighed, he was heartbroken to see that she had the intention to leave, and he was not going to force her to stay if she didn't want to. "However," he added while coming closer to her, his voice lowered a little, "if you are not comfortable here and you want to leave, I'll understand."

"Oh, Ferb…"

"At least let me give you a ride." he grabbed her hand, "Please, Vanessa"

She got lost in his eyes, which were looking at her with a very comprehensive glance. The tone of his British accent made her heart and legs melt, so much that she almost had to grab from something so she wouldn't fall. His voice sounded to her like he didn't want her to leave, but of course, Ferb was a gentleman, and he would always put her decisions over his. She didn't want to leave, she always enjoyed his company and that would never change. Besides, how could she say no to such a wonderful guy like him?

"On second thought," she squeezed his hand and looked down smiling, "It is too late to go to my dad's and it would be a waste of time to be looking for a hotel right now, so…"

"You can sleep at my room" He said and caught Vanessa's attention right away. His cheeks immediately turned scarlet red and almost regretted what he just said. '_Oh my' _he thought. "I-I… I was obviously going to sleep down here, I didn't mean…what I meant was…I would never…" he was stuttering a lot because of his nervousness that the only thing he could do was to clear his throat and look away, waiting for her to say something. After a few second he heard some giggling and turned his head back to see Vanessa's face slightly red.

"You wouldn't mind if I stay here?" she finally said.

"Absolutely not"

They shared a smile, then she added, "Alright"

Ferb's face changed immediately, there was now a particular twinkle in his eyes. He didn't think about the last two days, he didn't think about her ignoring him, the only think he had in his mind was that exact moment. Vanessa Doofenshmirtz was going to sleep in his room, in his bed. "In that case, this way please." He said waving his hand to let her go first, then they walked upstairs together.

"I will take you to-" he stopped talking and suddenly sneezed.

"Oh my god, Ferb, I totally forgot that you also got wet! You have to take a shower like, right now."

"I'll be fine, you don't have to worry." He said and opened his room's door, "Here we are, make yourself comfortable. If you need anything, you know where to find me."

"Wow, this is very nice! Thanks Ferb"

He smiled and left the room to go directly to the bathroom. She almost closed the door but the she decided to see Ferb one last time before going to bed. She was peeking through the door and saw him reaching the bathroom. He pressed the green button and the red lasers scanned his body.

'_Preparing personalized bathroom, welcome back Mr. Fletcher'_

"Hey, Ferb!" Vanessa said while stepping outside the room.

He turned his head over his shoulder.

"Leaving aside that going to that bathroom was an extremely unexpected trip, I have to ask. How did the…bathroom scanner thing knew it was me?"

"Well…" he said.

_***FLASHBACK***_

"_It's almost done Ferb, we just have to set properly the voice commands. How are you doing with the lighting?" Phineas said._

_Ferb gave him a thumbs up._

"_Perfect, I've already entered our names, let's try it!"_

_They stepped inside the room. 'Analyzing…Result: Phineas Flynn, Ferb Fletcher.'_

"_Cool" they said._

"_Hey Ferb, but what if someone else needs to use our bathroom, the system is not going to work if it has no record of any of our friends." Phineas approached to the computer and started typing. "Alright, it's done, all the important people in our lives are now in the system."_

_Ferb widened his eyes for a few seconds then shook his head._

_***Phone rings***_

_Phineas turned his head. "Oh, that must be Isabella, she said she would call me after the Fireside girls meeting." _

_He glanced oddly at him._

"_Don't start with your 'You should ask her out' speech again. I've told you, I'm taking things slow, one step at a time."_

_Ferb rolled his eyes, then Phineas added. "Why don't you finish with the names, I'll be right back."_

_He took the computer and finished with the list writing down all the qualities of each person. Right after getting everything done with the last one, he glanced at the "Add more" button and sighed. He pressed it and started typing. A few minutes later, Phineas walked back to the room._

"_Hey bro, so where were we? Did you finish with the list?" _

"_All set" Ferb said._

"_Awesome! Let's go get something to eat, I'm starving."_

_Ferb nodded and put the computer down, then he stood up and followed his brother to the kitchen. However, the list of names was still on the screen:_

_**List of names for voice commands:**_

_Phineas Flynn_

_Ferb Fletcher_

_Linda Flynn-Fletcher_

_Lawrence Fletcher_

_Candace Flynn-Johnson_

_Jeremy Johnson_

_Isabella Garcia-Shapiro_

_Baljeet Tjinder_

_Buford Van Stomm_

_**Vanessa Doofenshmirtz**_

_***END OF FLASHBACK***_

"When did you do that?"

"When we moved here…about three years ago" he muttered.

Vanessa was speechless. '_He thought of me, even knowing that could never see me again…' _she thought.

Ferb looked up and met her eyes. "You were always important to me, Vanessa" He got closer to her and kissed her hand.

"Good night" he said.

His last sentence was enough for her to let out a big grin. "Good night Ferb" she whispered and turned around to get into Ferb's room.


	12. Chapter 12

**Hey darlings!**

**SURPRISE! Doofenshmirtz and Perry are now in the story :D **

**There you go, Chapter #12 Please review :3**

**I DO NOT OWN P&amp;F**

* * *

Chapter 12

She woke up the next morning on Ferb's bed, for a moment she totally forgot that she stayed on his apartment. Vanessa remained lying on the bed staring at the ceiling thinking about what Ferb said to her the last night. _'__**You were always important to me, Vanessa'**__. What did that mean?_ She thought. Even knowing that he really cared enough to think about her in a completely improbable situation, she couldn't be entirely happy about it. The guilt of being indifferent with him the days before was killing her. She wanted to figure out a perfect time to explain everything to him, Ferb was being the best of friends and it couldn't be fair for him to leave things just like that. She sat upright and stretched her arms, then turned her head just to notice that the wet clothes she had left on the bureau weren't there anymore. She looked around the entire room but still she couldn't find her clothes anywhere. Worried, she got out of bed and went downstairs. Vanessa went directly to the living room to check if Ferb was still sleeping, even if she wasn't really sure what time it was.

"Ferb?" she said. She didn't hear a response but there was a pretty delightful smell coming from the kitchen, which made her follow it until she got to the spot from where it came from. First thing she saw was Ferb standing in front of the stove, already showered and dressed up, wearing a yellowish shirt with a purple vest and tie, dark grey pants and black shoes. On the table there were two trays, each of them contained the traditional English breakfast: a fruit cup, eggs and bacon, sausages, grilled mushrooms and tomatoes, toasted bread and marmalade. There were also two hot beverages in cups and a beautiful vase with a rose in it.

"Good morning" the green haired boy said.

"Good…morning" She was still staring at the table, amazed on how good everything looked.

"Did you sleep well?"

"Um…yeah" she blinked twice then turned to look at him. "Hey, um…have you seen my clothes?"

He turned around and pointed to a room right next to the kitchen. She followed the finger and saw the door to the laundry room, her clothes were already dry and folded.

"Did you do this?" she asked.

He nodded. "I apologize for taking them without your consent"

"No, no, it's just that…" she met his eyes. "You didn't have to, thanks"

He shook his head and smiled. "My pleasure". He grabbed one chair and pulled it out to motion her to sit down. "Please" he said.

She walked towards the table and took her seat, he did the same and both started having their breakfast. "Wow, Ferb, this is delicious! Where did you learn how to cook?"

"Let's say there are things you still don't know about me"

"Hey, it's not that hard to figure you out. You're British, you have green hair and you're very polite. Done." she said. Ferb looked at her and chuckled, then she added. "I could've said that you were also a man of a few words but you're not that anymore."

"Well, Phineas has always been the voice in the team while I was just the man of action. Sadly, not many people know how to read my expressions so I need to speak up."

'_Thanks, Phineas'_ she thought. "At least you knew it was going to happen eventually." She said and took a sip from her cappuccino. Vanessa really liked his voice, his British accent and his 'short' sentences couldn't compare to anything said by some other man. She suddenly remembered when he was ten years old, he used to say around one or two lines per day and people really had to pay attention on his statement, since they were very technical or poetic. Strangely, Ferb didn't seem to have any objection to speak when she was with him, and for some reason she always felt like it was something she had to appreciate.

When they finished their meal, Vanessa offered to wash the dishes so that Ferb could remain seated. "You have done a lot for me, at least let me help you with these." She said and he nodded with a smile on his face.

"So, did you get those fancy clothes from the wardrobe of your 'personalized' bathroom?" she wondered.

He stopped drinking from his cup. "Actually, each room is programmed to provide everything needed to stay the night, such as pajamas and slippers, also including new bathroom items. I took these from my closet."

Her eyes widened and stopped washing the dish on her hand, she turned around to meet his eyes then he continued. "I knocked the door but you didn't answer, I supposed that you were still in a deep sleep, so I went in and indeed your eyes were closed. I took my clothes and saw yours over the bureau, I noticed that they were still wet and took them to the laundry room. Once again, I apologize for getting in without your consent."

"Oh Ferb that's totally fine, I mean, it's your room. I'm just embarrassed 'cause you saw me sleeping."

"Don't be. You looked lovely as always."

Her cheeks turned red and simply stared at him, he still had that marvelous smile on his face. They stared at each other for a few seconds until he broke the silence. "Have you thought about what you will do with the things you left on Gordon's apartment?"

"Well I have to pick them up but first I need to get a room at a hotel." She said. Ferb immediately felt sad with her answer. _'She's leaving'_ he thought.

He stood up and looked down his feet. "Vanessa" he said.

She turned around. "Yes?"

"I have an extra room."

"What?"

"You don't have to spend your money on a hotel room, you can have mine and I can stay in Phineas' old room."

She walked closer to him. "Are you suggesting me to live here with you?"

"Yes, yes I am," he answered. His heart was pounding with excitement of her saying yes, and also with nervousness of her saying no. "If you want to, of course."

"B-But," she stuttered in surprise due to his request, "wouldn't it be too much to ask?"

"Not at all. This place is way too big just for me, it would be nice to have some company. Especially if it's you." He said, still looking down embarrassed. "Although, if you already-"

"Yes" she interrupted.

He stopped talking and met her eyes, those beautiful brown eyes were sparkling followed by her beautiful smile. The shock of her answered left him speechless. "Pardon me?"

"I'd love to be your roommate, Ferb." She said and placed a hand on his cheek, "You got me out of trouble again, like you always do, thank you. But you have let me pay you for the rent."

Ferb laughed silently. "Now, that's funny" he said and turned around, he walked away from the kitchen. Vanessa blinked twice and followed him.

"Hey!" she cried. "I'm serious. I will-"

"Vanessa, you know what time it is?" he interrupted.

She checked the watch on her left wrist and jumped scared. "OH MY GOD, IT'S ALMOST 9:00! I'M GOING TO BE SO LATE FOR WORK"

While she was screaming and going crazy all around the place, he couldn't help to chuckle. He took his backpack from the floor and made his way to the front door. "Actually I'm about to leave for school, I can give you a ride."

"Uh, Hello? Look at me! I still need to get ready, I'll never make it on time."

"Not a problem" He pointed his watch in her direction and pressed a button. A green laser came out of it and hit Vanessa, who covered her face with her hands when she noticed the laser. Within seconds, Vanessa's clothes changed from nightdress and slippers to a complete different outfit. She was now wearing a ¾ sleeve gray top with black leggings and high heel boots, her hair was clean, combed and styled as she usually does. She was also wearing powder, blush, mascara and lipstick. She uncovered her face and felt like if she already had a shower and was ready to go to work. She looked carefully at her entire body, confused on what had happened, then glanced at Ferb, who had the front door already open.

"Shall we go?" he said.

She blinked twice and sighed, then walked out through the door. "You know what? I wasn't done, I forgot to mention you're also a genius."

* * *

After taking Vanessa to her work place, Ferb arrived to school as fast as he could not to be late. For such an outstanding student like him, being late for a class would be terrible, but that wasn't really bothering him at all. There was a huge smile on his face that no one could wipe off, the girl of his dreams was going to be living under the same roof as him, he was going to have the opportunity to see her all the time, to share so many moments with her, and mainly, to try to win her heart. Fortunately he made it on time and stopped on his locker room to get his books for his first class, suddenly he heard the usual footsteps coming from a short distance. He could recognize those footsteps anywhere. _'Gretchen' _he thought. He sighed and waited for her usual greeting, then he saw from the corner of his eye that Gretchen didn't stop at his locker, she just kept walking without even looking at him. He turned his head to look at her and blinked twice confused, he opened his mouth to call her but there were no words coming out. Before he could think about something to say, he felt a hand on his shoulder that made him look back right away, just to see his brother smiling at him.

"G'morning Bro!" Phineas said. "How are you feeling today?"

Ferb smiled and gave him a thumbs up.

"Huh, I can see that you're so much better now. What happened? Any news about Vanessa?"

He winked at his brother and walked away from his locker. Phineas simply stared at him then followed his brother.

"Oh come on! Tell me."

"She appeared in front of my door in the middle of the night." Ferb said.

"Wait, what?! Why?"

"Her roommate kicked her out and she asked me for help."

"She went to see you? Now, that's strange, I thought you said she was ignoring you." Phineas said while scratching his head.

"She was."

"Then why did she go to your place?"

"She said she needed me."

"That doesn't make any sense," Phineas crossed his arms, "if she needed you then I don't understand why she was ignoring you. Have you asked her?"

Ferb shook his head.

"Well you should. You spent the last two days worried about her, the least she could do is to tell you what happened." The red-haired boy put his arm around Ferb's shoulders and smiled. "On the other hand, I'm glad you got to see her again. I like her, she seems nice."

'_She's the best'_ he thought. Ferb grinned and hugged his brother back, then Phineas added, "Hey, I have to go to class. See you later, buddy" he ran through the hall then stopped, he turned his head over his shoulder. "Oh and, tell her I say hi."

* * *

At the end of her classes, Gretchen decided to go to see her old physics professor to figure out who her daughter was. Her face didn't have the natural smile she usually had, her glance was down and she kept sighing the whole time. The only thing she could think about was Ferb, even if she wanted to she couldn't stop loving him at all. Besides, she was feeling terrible for not talking to Ferb at all the entire day. She saw him at his locker and had the intention to approach to him, but she didn't feel it was the right thing to do. She didn't want to look into his eyes and pretend to be okay if she wasn't. She couldn't stop thinking that Ferb was probably being polite to her just for compassion, and the more she thought of it, the more her heart was crushing. However, she was aware that he never gave her false hopes, he has been honest with her the whole time and even if he didn't correspond to her feelings, he was still trying to be a good friend. Somehow, she knew that Ferb liked her, but in a very different way.

Gretchen was holding a card on her hands and was looking at it while walking down the street _**'Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz – (**__**Evil)**__** Scientist, Teacher at Danville High'**_. She arrived to the center of Danville and stopped in front of a tall purple building that strangely looked like Ferb's head.

_***jingle* Doofenshmirtz hmm-hmm Incorporated!**_

On the inside of the penthouse, Doofenshmirtz was sitting in front of a table holding some cards on his hands. He was looking pretty much the same but he was now older, his hair was gray and his face was a little more wrinkled. He was still very slender and his hunchback was still noticeable. He was playing cards with Perry, who was tied to a chair with a rope right in front of him. And of course, we was wearing his fedora.

"Now, Perry the Platypus, I have to say that even though we've been enemies for a really long time, it's actually pretty nice to, you know, change the routine once in a while. Oh and, sorry again for the trap on the chair, it's just that, there are a lot of hidden traps all around this place! You have NO idea how hard it would be to remove them all. And…to tell the truth I don't have the same memory as I used to have so, I don't remember where many of them are." Doof said.

Perry just glanced oddly at him and placed his cards on the table.

"Full house!? Haha Perry the Platypus I think your perfect streak is ending now with…my um…" he looked at his cards and noticed that he had one pair, then he threw the cards on the table and sighed. "Meh, forget it."

_***doorbell rings***_

Perry took the poker chips after winning the game and turned his head to the door, then Doof added, "Hey! I thought I canceled my weekly massage earlier today, uh you see, I woke up this morning with a horrible pain on my lower back and I thought that maybe I was dealing with, I don't know, a cheap clinic or something. Other than that I wasn't expecting any visit today."

Perry shrugged.

"Oh well, um…its open!"

Gretchen slightly opened the door and went in. "Dr. Doofenshmirtz?" she said. She gave one step forward and immediately looked down, she realized that she was stepping on a marker and bent over to pick it up. "Oh my, is this yours?"

Doof and Perry widened their eyes and looked at each other, "Nononono-"

When Gretchen had the marker in her hands, it launched and flew directly to the ceiling, getting the brown-haired girl caught in a trap. She was screaming and hanging from the ceiling inside a net. "Oh my God, Dr. D?! Dr. D!?"

Doof looked up. "Gretchen?"

"Yes! It's me! Can you please put me down?" she said.

"I would, but I don't remember how. I just put the traps and Perry the Platypus escapes one way or another." He said and crossed his arms.

Perry rolled his eyes and got out of the trap on the chair, then ran right under the trap where Gretchen was. At the back, he could hear Doofenshmirtz talking. "See? He always gets out of my traps, I really should've stopped making them a long time ago."

The platypus took the marker again and flew directly to her, then he pressed a button on his watch to burn the net. During this, Gretchen was staring at him shocked by the fact that Phineas and Ferb's pet was 'saving' her.

"Perry!? What is goi-" she stopped talking and screamed when she started falling from the ceiling to the floor after being released from the trap.

"Perry the Platypus, what were you thinking!?" Doof cried. He ran towards their direction to catch her, but before he could do anything, the platypus got to the ground and pushed a sofa right under the trap.

The girl landed on the couch unharmed. "Oh, thanks Perry, I guess..."

Perry tipped his fedora and ran towards the big window, then jumped and flew away with his hang glider.

"Wait! Where is he going?" she asked.

Doof frowned and sighed. "Typical, typical. Every time I try to be nice, Perry the platypus ruins it and gets the whole credit. CURSE YOU PERRY THE PLATYPUS!"

_**(*jingle* Agent P!)**_

He took a deep breath then turned to see Gretchen. "Anyways, what brings you up here, dear? I haven't seen you since you graduated from Danville High."

"Yeah, it's been a while…um," she said, still staring at him confusedly and they joined hands for a friendly handshake. "Sorry to ask but, what was Perry doing here?"

"Meh, it's a long story, though somewhat repetitive. In fact I think it would be more like a short story, but it would still be hard to explain, um…whatever. You see, I used to create inators to rule over the Tri-State Area and Perry the Platypus has always stopped me from doing it, but that was when I was still an evil scientist. Today I wasn't trying to do something evil at all, I don't do stuff like that anymore, it was exhausting."

"So then why did he stop you?"

"Come with me, I'll show you." He said and motioned her to follow him to one part of the room. "BEHOLD! **THE ALTER EGO-INATOR**!"

"Did you have to yell, Dr. D?" she said.

"Sorry, it's a habit."

Gretchen looked carefully at the inator and grabbed her chin. "It's very impressive, how does it work?"

"Well, basically it gives you the opportunity to turn yourself into your alter ego, although I haven't set properly for how much time you can stay that way."

"And why did you-"

_***door knocks***_

She stopped talking after hearing the knocks and saw that her professor was surprised. "I'm sorry Dr. I didn't know you were expecting someone, maybe I should go." she said.

"Oh no, it's fine. Um, why don't you sit over there? I'll be right back" he said and walked towards the door.

_***door knocks***_

"Alright, alright! I'm coming!" he said and opened the door.

"Hi dad!"

Gretchen's eyes widened in surprise. _'Dad?' _she thought. She didn't even had to try to get information from Dr. Doofenshmirtz related to his mysterious daughter, both girls were right under the same roof. She was finally going to meet the girl who dated the guy of her dreams and she couldn't figure out how to act in front of her. There were so many feelings that she had to control at that moment, she needed to act normal if she wanted to get to know her precisely. She just remained seated and heard their conversation.

"Vanessa!" he shouted joyfully and hugged her, "How are you, sweetheart? Come in!"

"I'm good dad, thanks. I'm actually kind of in a hurry, I'm on my lunch break but I wanted to come here and say hi to you. I came by yesterday but it was late and you didn't answer." she said.

"I didn't hear you, sorry."

"It's okay dad, look I, um-" she was interrupted by a higher voice.

"Dr. D?"

Both Doof and Vanessa turned their heads to see Gretchen standing behind them. Her hands were shaking, she almost couldn't believe it when she saw Dr. Doofenshmirtz's daughter. Vanessa looked older and was definitely more mature than any other 21 year-old girl, but mostly, and she hated to admit it, she was very pretty. Gretchen was just staring at Vanessa until she spoke up. "I'm… so sorry to interrupt."

"No, no, don't be. Vanessa, this is Gretchen, she was my student a few years ago. Gretchen, this is my daughter Vanessa." Doof said.

"Hey, how's it going?" Vanessa said.

Gretchen didn't answer, she just nodded and gave her a small grin. She turned to Doof and said. "I have to go Dr. D, thank you for having me."

"Oh, alright. Thank you for coming by, it was good to see you."

Without saying anything, Gretchen walked out the door and stood right outside the apartment. Suddenly she heard Vanessa speaking to her father, so she placed her ear on the door to listen.

"_Actually dad, I'm leaving too but before I go, here." She gave her father a piece of paper with an address. "This is where I live now."_

"_Wait wait wait, when did you moved out?" he asked._

"_Yesterday, it's a long story, but I'll be living now with a guy named Ferb. Ferb Fletcher."_

Gretchen's jaw dropped and her eyes almost watered, but she calmed down to continue listening.

"_The quiet British boy with green hair?"_

"_You know him?"_

"_He was my student, one of the best students actually. Wait a second, isn't he much younger than you?"_

"_Dad! What does age have to do here? Besides he is very mature, he's my friend and he has an available room, that's it."_

"_Are you sure he's just your friend?"_

"_Of course."_

Gretchen sighed relieved. Knowing that Ferb was still single was somehow comforting, because that meant she still had a chance to compete against Vanessa to get his attention. She walked away from Doofenshmirtz's penthouse and got out of the building. She grabbed her phone and stared at it a few seconds. She never thought that her love for Ferb would make her do crazy stuff, but she always had in mind that she could get everything she wants if she tries hard, and that's what she was doing. She dialed a number and put the phone on her ear.


	13. Chapter 13

**Hey darlings!**

**I present to you Chapter #13! yay! Sorry for the delay, I'm just doing my best writing this story and it takes time to make each chapter haha. :3**

**Please review! Love you!**

**I DO NOT OWN P&amp;F**

* * *

Chapter 13

"Phineas! I'm leaving, I'll be back soon ok?" Isabella said after grabbing her purse from the hanger.

Her boyfriend, as always, was working on his daily projects and without looking at her, he answered, "Alright, Izzy! See you later, love you!"

Isabella rolled her eyes and smiled before heading out the door of their apartment. She made her way to the coffee shop as fast as she could and saw her friend sitting on a table on the outside, who was sipping her beverage without any expression on her face. Isabella knew that Gretchen was having a rough time and she would try to make her feel better at any cost, although she wasn't sure what was bothering her at that moment due to the way she spoke on their previous conversation.

"Hi Gretchen," she said and took a seat in front of her friend, "To be honest with you, I still don't know what's going on here, when you called me you sounded quite desperate to talk to somebody."

Gretchen looked up and shrugged. "I don't know either, Isabella. There are so many things going on in my head right now."

"Talk to me, girl. You know I'm here for you right?" Izzy reached over and grabbed her hand.

Gretchen smiled and squeezed Izzy's hand.

* * *

After visiting her dad, Vanessa went directly to back to her new home. She actually felt comfortable calling Ferb's apartment her home, she felt it could be a new beginning where she could improve her relationship with him, she had now the opportunity to know him better than ever, and to show him that their friendship was important to her without having to explain why she ignored him for two days. Ferb didn't seem to be annoyed, and he wasn't asking for any explanation, so she decided not to mention it and try to make it up to him some other way.

In the morning, they agreed to meet at the apartment later that day so they could make some adjustments to Vanessa's new room. She knew that Ferb could probably be at school, so she decided to surprise him by cleaning the apartment in appreciation for letting her stay at his place. She arrived to the apartment and grabbed the extra key under the door mat like he told her to do, then went in just to find out that the apartment seemed to already be clean. She went directly to the living room to check the cushions of the couch, which were supposed to have wet spots, but they were good as new.

"You can't be serious." She mumbled.

She then looked at the tea table on the living room and found a little paper folded in half with her name on it, she took it and looked inside the note:

_Welcome home._

_You should know that just because you are now living here, doesn't mean you stopped being my guest. I went out to get the necessary tools to fix your room. Please, make yourself comfortable._

_Ferb Fletcher_

The front door opened when she finished reading the note. She turned her head and saw the green-haired boy holding a paint bucket with one hand and a plastic bag with the other. The moment where they met their eyes, Ferb immediately smiled and placed the stuff on the floor to join her in the living room.

She crossed her arms. "You have to let me do something for you at least once."

He chuckled and just stared at her without saying anything.

"What are you doing here so early? Are you skipping classes?"

He raised an eyebrow and shook his head.

"Alright, I'm sorry. Huh, I'll never understand how you do so many things in such short time. I just got here, I went to see my dad after work to let him know I'll live here now. When I said your name he recognized you right away, he mentioned that you were one of the most brilliant students in your class, which doesn't surprise me at all."

"That's flattering." He said.

She laughed. "So, should we get started with the room?"

Ferb nodded and picked up the stuff from the floor. They walked together upstairs and got to Phineas' old room. Both of them started getting the furniture out until they left the entire room empty. During this, Vanessa could see the sweat running down his forehead and his hair falling into his eyes, she kept thinking about how manly he looked and how attentive he was for helping her settle in her new room. Sometimes Ferb caught her staring at him and he just laughed silently, for him the fact that he was gaining her attention was like a dream come true, but he needed to stay out of that thought not to rush things up.

"Alright," she said, "what should we do next?"

Ferb pointed a chair right next to the door, he was obviously asking her to sit down probably to wait for him to finish with the room. Vanessa understood right away what he was trying to say and frowned. "Oh no, don't even think about it."

"Pardon me?"

"I'm not going to sit down and watch you do all the work, I'm helping you no matter what you say. Besides you'll never finish if you do this alone."

"Actually I was going to build a-" he couldn't finish after feeling Vanessa's finger placed in his mouth to make him stop talking.

"Hey, there's no need to build anything," she said and approached to the paint bucket to open it, "think about it, we can have fun painting the room, and if we do it together we'll finish earlier." She grabbed two paintbrushes and offered one to Ferb, "What do you say?"

He couldn't say no to her, he just answered with a charming smile and watched her walking towards him. His eyes glanced her steps and he noticed that Vanessa was about to step on the paint lid she left on the floor after opening the bucket. "Watch out, Vanessa."

"What?" she stooped walking and looked down to see what he was talking about, "Oh wow, I need to be careful if I want to keep this amazing new boots. You should change your clothes if you don't want to ruin your outfit."

Ferb looked at his clothes then looked back to her. "True, be right back." He said and left the room.

He went to his closet to get the oldest clothes he could find and went back to Vanessa's room wearing a tight v-neck t-shirt and a pair of shorts. Vanessa stared at him like if he was a completely different guy, she was used to see him like a fancy British boy with formal shirt and pants, but that was the first time she saw Ferb dressed like that and she found it strange. Although it wasn't a 'bad' strange at all, she could see his manly arms under the tight shirt and his toned legs slightly covered in his greenish natural hair, Vanessa was totally attracted to the man standing in front of her. Lost in her thoughts, she smiled unconsciously, then shook her head when she saw that he looked down with his cheeks getting red.

"This is embarrassing." He said while blushing even more.

"Oh Ferb, I-I wasn't laughing at you." She said and turned around to hide her red face. "Well, at least you can mess that shirt, I'll kill myself if a drop of paint falls on the only blouse I have right now." She sighed and leaned against the wall. "Which reminds me that I still need to pick up my stuff from Gordon's apartment."

"Here." He came closer and handed to her another white t-shirt, "If it is okay with you, I would like to go with you to get your belongings back. Until then, you can wear this. It is an old shirt of mine, and you can take a pair of shorts from your bathroom."

She thought for a moment. _'He probably wants to protect me and make sure I'll get my stuff back. How sweet of him.'_ She grinned and grabbed the shirt, she went to her personalized bathroom and got back to the room where Ferb was waiting with the paintbrush on the hand.

"Alright! Let's get started!" she said.

* * *

Isabella listened every single word her friend said that evening. Gretchen explained to her how she discovered the existence of Vanessa and what she did to get information about her, she actually felt ashamed of herself after telling the story, like if she was obsessed with Ferb, but she knew that Isabella would totally understand the reasons of her actions. Isabella, on the other hand, couldn't help to feel guilty. She already knew that Ferb was interested in Vanessa since they spoke the other day at the park. The things Ferb said that day were circling inside her head: _'Whether you like it or not, I can't force myself to like Gretchen […] Vanessa is all I can think about'_. The fact that she had to decide between her best friends was killing her, she didn't want to try to pull Gretchen out of her idea, but she also didn't want to fool Ferb so that he could get interested on Gretchen. The only thing she didn't understand was what could've happened with Vanessa and Ferb, until that moment she thought that Vanessa wasn't talking to him at all.

"Why didn't you tell me that you heard us talking about Vanessa?" she said.

Gretchen looked down. "I didn't want to ask you guys everything about her. I thought it would be better if I found out myself."

"Alright, I get that, but going to Dr. D's house? Girl, you knew that wasn't going to make you feel any better."

"I know, but I never imagined that she was going to get there. And I'm not going to lie, she is pretty. But still, I'm sure that she doesn't know Ferb the way I do, I mean, Ferb and I have a lot more in common."

"Well…" Isabella scratched her head.

"It's just that there are so many things I don't understand, like how did they meet? How old is she? What does she have that I don't?" Gretchen said with her elbows over the table and holding her head.

Izzy sighed. "Gretchen, I know it's hard but you have to-"

"No, Isabella. You have absolutely no idea. It took time but at last Phineas noticed your love for him and he corresponded you. Look at me, it's been eleven years and I still can't get Ferb's attention." Gretchen frowned and her eyes started watering. "Every time I want to give up on him, he looks at me with those deep blue eyes and I just, can't help it. I don't get it, Isabella! I've been there for him for almost a decade and suddenly, this Vanessa appears and gets a date with him in a snap of fingers."

"Umm" Isabella bit her bottom lip then took a deep breath. "Look Gretchen, there's something you need to know." She looked up and met Gretchen's eyes, then she added. "I talked to Ferb about you the other day,"

Gretchen's eyes widened while she was listening.

"And I know you're going to kill me, but I kind of told him how you feel about him. He said he already knew that, though."

"He did?" She asked and stood up excited, there was a new twinkle in her eyes. "What else did he say?!"

"Wait, aren't you mad?"

"Of course not, if he already knew then it wasn't a secret. Now tell me, what else did he say?!"

"Well, um…" Isabella gulped and tried to decide faster if she should tell the truth to her friend or not, for some reason Gretchen was hoping something good coming from her and she didn't want to break her heart again. _'What should I say? Um, Ferb said he only likes Vanessa. I can't do that to her' _she thought. She breathed one more time then looked back up.

"Ferb d-doesn't like you…with the same intensity as you." She said.

Gretchen sat down. "What do you mean?" she asked confused.

"Umm…" Isabella faked a smiled and continued. "You know, h-have you heard that sometimes if you want different results, you need to try different methods?"

"Yeah…"

"Maybe you've been trying so hard by doing the same things over the past years, why don't you try something else? Something different, that way, Ferb could finally like you the way you deserve."

Gretchen blinked twice and went back on her life a little bit. It was true, she has wasted too much time trying to get a date with Ferb by doing the same silly things. Talking to him at school, sitting next to him on class, asking him for books, etc. Things that are not 'interesting' at all, or maybe not that interesting for him. She has always felt so scared to try new strategies because she didn't want to change the way she is, but rather than a benefit, it is a disadvantage. Gretchen got up from the table and walked a few steps away from Isabella, still thinking. Her eyes suddenly popped open when she remembered her visit to Dr. D's penthouse. _'BEHOLD! THE ALTER EGO-INATOR!'_. Maybe with his help, she could change her entire personality and become someone more interesting for Ferb. At last, she can become Ferb's girlfriend.

"You're right! You're right, Isabella!" she screamed with a big smile on her face.

Isabella raised an eyebrow then stood up to join Gretchen. "What are you thinking, girl?"

"I knew it, it's not that Ferb doesn't like me, he does…but I have to change if I want him to like me even more."

"I-I, Gretchen, I never said that he-"

"I have to go, Izzy!" she interrupted and hugged her friend. "Thank you."

Isabella hugged her back without words, knowing that she wasn't even listening. Then she watched Gretchen leave the place with her face filled with hope. She sighed, "Oh my God, What have I done?"

* * *

He never imagined how much fun he could have spending the evening painting walls with Vanessa. They started painting the walls and she kept talking with him about so many things, for some moments Ferb would peek over his shoulder just to glance the beautiful girl standing right next to him. Vanessa looked so pretty with her hair tied up in a ponytail. The shirt she borrowed was quite bigger than her normal size and it made him notice how petite she really was, which he found adorable. The sweetness in her voice when she was speaking to him and the way her eyes were turning bluer with the change of light were making his heart melt. She played some music from her cellphone and she was actually surprised on Ferb's music interests, which were very similar to what she liked. She started singing a few songs and sometimes Ferb joined her as a backup singer. After that, Ferb changed the music and took her hand for a little 'slow' dancing all around the room. Vanessa was really having the best time with Ferb, she nearly forgot about everyone and everything else in the world, for that evening, there was just the two of them. They finished the room went the moon came out, Ferb got them some cool glasses of lemonade and they sat on the floor to rest for a while.

"It looks pretty good, it's definitely way better than before" she said.

Ferb nodded and cracked his neck.

"You are tired, huh? You don't have to come with me to get my stuff if you don't want to, you can stay here and get some rest."

He chuckled. "I'm alright, Vanessa. I rather go with you in case you need help."

"Okay, thanks" she smiled.

"Besides, I don't think you could handle this guy all by yourself." He grinned staring at her mockingly.

"Hey!" she laughed. "What is that supposed to mean? I could beat you right now if I wanted, Fletcher."

"Oh please, stop it. I'll give you my lunch money." He replied sarcastically.

She got on her feet and look into his eyes, "Try me" she said. He stood up and crossed his arms.

"Do you really think I'm going to fight with you? Don't be ridiculous."

"I'm not asking you to fight me, just try my strength, come on." She said and raised her hands. "But don't you dare to make it easy for me."

"Alright, show me what you got."

They interlocked their fingers and she started pushing Ferb as strong as she could. She barely moved his body but still he had to force himself a little to stay firm at his spot. He also tried to stay focused, the fact that he was holding hands with Vanessa was distracting him so badly that he was slightly losing balance. He gave a step back to try to get another firm position and Vanessa immediately grinned thinking that he was losing against her, then she looked down and saw that Ferb was going to step on a paint roller. She opened her mouth to warn him but within seconds, he slipped and fell upon his back, pulling Vanessa and making her fall right on top of him.

She looked up and blushed when she felt Ferb's chest pressed against hers. Without saying anything, Ferb raised his chest groaning and placing a hand on the back of his head, he felt someone breathing on top of him and opened his eyes right away. They looked into each other's widened eyes, his heart was pounding and his mind went blank. It was like nothing else in the world existed, just him and the girl of his dreams at that side of the room. Her hands were resting on his chest, their faces were mere inches away from each other and their cheeks lightly red. Sometimes he looked at the brownish hair covering her eyes, her perfect-shaped nose, and her beautiful pink lips. Both were staring at each other for a minute until she spoke.

"A-Are you hurt?" she murmured.

He shook his head. "You?"

She shook her head too and sighed. "I-I think I've never noticed how…blue your eyes were." She saw that Ferb was raising his hand, he stroked her forehead and pushed her bangs back.

"There." he said, "You look excessively gorgeous with your face uncovered." They shared a smile and stared at each other once again. Lost in their glance, they slowly approached their faces and closed their eyes.

Suddenly, a voice coming from the stairs broke the silence, and it actually sounded like someone was reaching the second floor. "Hey Ferb! Are you up here? I need to borrow one of your tools, bro."

Ferb didn't move but his eyes widened once again, they both turned their heads to the door of the room and before they could react, Phineas opened it and stopped walking. He stared stunned at each of them and grinned when he saw his step-brother's face.

"Ferb? Vanessa?" he said.

Vanessa got away from Ferb and stood up. "Hi Phineas" she laughed nervously.

"Hi…um, what's going on in here?" he said and stepped forward offering a hand to his brother, who was still lying on the floor.

"We, uh, we were just…" she said and looked at Ferb. He chuckled and turned his head to Phineas.

"Vanessa will be living here now, we just finished painting her new room." Ferb said.

"She is? Wow, awesome! Do you need help with the furniture?"

"Actually we were about to leave, there's something we need to do. Oh…You said you needed something, am I right?"

"Yeah, yeah, but don't worry, I'll look for it. You two go."

Ferb smiled and turned to Vanessa, "Shall we?"

* * *

They decided to walk instead of driving to Gordon's, it was such a beautiful night and the moonlight was covering them, like a perfect love movie scene. Vanessa didn't expect to feel what she felt back in their apartment, at the moment when she met Ferb's eyes. There was definitely something between them, like a force that was pulling them to close their eyes and meet halfway. She immediately felt the typical butterflies in her stomach, something that she had never felt before, not even when she dated Johnny or…any other guy. This feeling was different, it definitely wasn't a friend's affection, but it didn't feel right to refer to it in a stronger way. Everything was very strange for her, since she saw Ferb at the Blueprint Heaven she knew there was something special in him that she couldn't see when he was little, but still she just wanted to see him as a friend for her own sake. Apparently that is something she wasn't able to handle anymore.

They got to Gordon's place and Ferb stood in front of Vanessa to protect her, just in case. It sounded like there was music inside the apartment but didn't sound like a party at all, probably the most accurate time to deal with him and get her stuff back. He knocked the door and cleared his throat to do the talking, man to man. Gordon opened the door, as usual he was wearing just an untied robe, showing his boxers and bare chest, there was a beer in his hand. His tired eyes changed into frown when he saw Vanessa's face.

"Well, well, well. Look what we have here." He said and drank from his beer. "What do you want, killjoy?"

"Okay, that's it." She furiously said and stepped forward clenching her fists, but Ferb stopped her with his arm and frowned at Gordon.

"Ooh, is your boyfriend pissed?"

Ferb took a deep breath to keep calm and crossed his arms. "Not to be rude, but we don't have time to waste it with you and your nonsense. We came to pick up Vanessa's things so, please."

"I thought you were a good boy, you know, but now you're really pissing me off." He said.

"I couldn't care less, Gordon. Please, step aside." Ferb said.

"This is my apartment, smarty pants."

"If you can call it apartment, all I see is a huge garbage container, with the exception that you possess Vanessa's belongings inside. For the last time, move."

"I've had enough, fancy boy." Gordon took him from his tie and pulled him close, his hand was clenched and pointing to Ferb's face. Scared, Vanessa covered her mouth and jumped back, glancing at Ferb's angry look.

"Don't touch me." Ferb replied and placed his hand on Gordon's shoulder to apply a Vulcan nerve pinch, making the drunk guy fall to the ground unconscious.

"Ferb!" Vanessa cried.

He saw her over his shoulder. "Well, he was all up in my face. I'll help you in a minute, I need to put this poor guy at least on the couch."

She nodded and went in.

Walking back home, Vanessa invited Ferb to go for a milkshake, blueberry and chocolate, their favorite. She really appreciated what Ferb did back at Gordon's apartment, although she did know that he could be overprotective, she never expected to see him acting that way. He was really bothered by Gordon's lack of politeness and still he remained calm the entire time, he didn't even have to use brute force to put an older guy on the floor. She was amazingly happy to see him caring about her that way.

"Thanks again for defending me." She said.

He smiled, "It is sad to admit that so many people are lost in bad habits just like Gordon. His floor had the exact same bottles from yesterday."

She stopped and blinked twice. "Yesterday?"

"Well, yes."

"What were you doing there?"

Ferb gulped, he turned around to face her and looked down. "I was looking for you, but he told me that a guy picked you up."

She sighed and facepalmed. "I'm sure he was drunk enough to recognize my dad. Jerk."

He widened his eyes and thought, _'Her father. It was her father.'_ Before saying anything, she walked closer to him and added, "Ferb, why were you looking for me?"

With his cheeks slightly red, he replied. "I hadn't heard anything from you since our last dinner together. I wanted to make sure that you were fine."

'_Oh my God'_ she thought. Her heart rate was raising and her hands were shaking. She never imagined how much pain she was causing him until she heard his voice on his last sentence, her heart broke and she almost had to hold herself not to cry.

"Vanessa, is everything alright? You look pale." He said and grabbed her hand to check her corporal temperature.

"I-I can explain everything, Ferb. Look, I-"

"Vanessa?" someone interrupted.

Both looked up and turned their heads to see a tall, light brown haired man standing right in front of them. "Vanessa Doofenshmirtz?"

Ferb raised an eyebrow and looked at Vanessa, who was astonished by the presence of that random person. He decided to step back and watch the encounter.

"Monty?" she said.


	14. Chapter 14

Hi darlings! :D :D

Chapter #14 is finally here! I hope you guys like it and if you do, please review!

Thank you for being so supportive with "I'm Yours" :3 I love you all

**I DO NOT OWN P&amp;F**

* * *

Chapter 14

"Wow, I can't believe it's you. You look amazingly pretty." He said.

Vanessa frowned in confusion and opened her mouth to reply, but she had no words to say. She didn't even want to remember the last time she saw Monty, even if it was years ago, the simple memory was really hurting her at that moment. He looked practically the same, his hair was still short, his chin was shaved, but he was no longer wearing the same hoodie and pants. She didn't quite understand why he was so happy, he really looked like he was excited to see her, even if their last meeting wasn't pleasant at all.

"It's been a long time," he added, "I heard that you came back from Alaska and…I meant to call you but…"

"But you didn't." she said, her expression changed to frown and she lowered her voice. "I guess you weren't that interested on doing it. Right?"

Monty's eyes lost shine with her last comment. "Of course I was. What makes you think otherwise?"

Vanessa didn't answer, she just stared at him angrily and sighed. The idea of him ignoring what happened between them a few years ago was bothering her more than ever, but she wanted to stay calm at the situation, even if she never had the opportunity to demand an explanation. There were so many unavoidable thoughts and images all over her head, she was holding her anger and sadness as much as she could, forcing herself not to cry in front of him. He didn't deserve it anyway. A few seconds later she heard someone clearing his throat, and widened her eyes when she remembered that the green-haired guy was still standing behind her, probably waiting patiently to be introduced by her. Since he wasn't aware of her past with Monty, she shook her head and tried to go on with their conversation. She wanted to change the subject after all.

She turned around to look at Ferb, "Oh, I'm sorry Ferb." She said and motioned him to come closer, she sighed then added, "This is Montgomery Monogram. Monty, this is Ferb Fletcher."

They looked at each other's eyes right after Vanessa finished talking. Maybe Ferb didn't know Monty and he couldn't know if he was a nice or a bad person, but the fact that he might be disturbing Vanessa in any way wasn't giving him good sign. After hearing the way he complimented her beauty, Ferb clenched his fists a little bit due to his jealousy. He couldn't help it, he reacted almost immediately after knowing that someone else could be interested on the girl of his dreams, which was actually pretty evident. He could clearly see that Monty wasn't very pleased to meet him as well, or at least his face wasn't showing the opposite. It was almost like if both of them knew exactly what the other was thinking, the vibe between the two obviously expressed rivalry. With no doubt, Montgomery Monogram had feelings for Vanessa, just like him.

He politely offered his hand for a handshake, acting mature like he should.

Monty glanced at Ferb's hand then took it, looking back at him. "I know you. You are one of Agent P's owners."

He raised an eyebrow, but promptly understood he was referring to Perry. Ferb said nothing to his arrogance, he knew that Monty was going to try anything to make him look bad in front of Vanessa, stealthily playing the "nice guy" card, of course.

"Well it's nice to meet you, man" Monty said and pointed the purple suitcase on Ferb's hand, "I can see that you're helping Vanessa with her 'luggage', going somewhere?"

"I am…moving to another apartment." She replied.

Monty looked back to Ferb, "You know, it's cool that there are still well-mannered kids around here." He said and snatched the suitcase out of Ferb's hands. "Let me take this, you can hurt yourself."

'_Kid?' _Ferb glared at him. Just as he thought, it looked like Monty wanted to point out the difference of age between Vanessa and him, trying to make clear why he was a better option for her. Nothing bothered him more than being six years younger than Vanessa, he couldn't help to think about all those years trying to get rid of the love he felt for her, spending entire evenings thinking that it was never going to happen. _'I'm 10, she's 16….I'm 12, she's 18…there's no way.' _he repeated to himself. Monty had hit a nerve, even though Ferb was aware that he wasn't a kid anymore.

Vanessa frowned then turned to the green-haired guy. "Ferb, could you give us a minute?"

His eyes opened in surprise and watched the smile on Monty's face. He nodded and sighed as he turned around to walk some steps away from them.

"_Finally some privacy, right?"_

"_I just want to get this over with." she said and crossed her arms._

"_Hey! What's with the rudeness? Aren't you glad that we met tonight after so many years?" he said._

"_What do you want, Monty?"_

"_Talk to you, Vanessa. Why don't we go get a cup of coffee some time?"_

_She laughed sarcastically. "I don't think so, the last time I agreed to go for coffee with you I found you…quite busy."_

_Monty blinked twice and his expression went serious. "Are you still mad at me because of that?"_

"_I'm not happy at all."_

"_I told you, I was tricked. How many times do I have to say that for you to forgive me?" _

"_Oh, right. So, you're saying that you did absolutely nothing. You just closed your eyes, raised your hands and she took off your clothes. Sure."_

She couldn't hold it anymore, without even noticing tears were already streaming down her cheeks. It was the first time she talked with Monty about that horrible day and there were so many found feelings with that conversation. She never gave him the opportunity to explain things up, but when she saw that Monty was scratching his nape and looking down, she already knew that she wasn't wrong about her suspicions. Monty took a deep breath and took her hands.

"_Vanessa, I'm really sorry. I made a huge mistake but I believe destiny is giving me one chance to make things right and get you back. Believe it or not, I was crushed when I heard you left Danville. I've been feeling miserable all these years for losing you that way, and I know it might be ridiculous to ask you this but...Give us a try."_

"_What!?" she took a step back and released her hands._

_Monty grabbed her shoulders and brought her closer. "I still love you Vanessa, I never stopped loving you. Please forgive me…we can be happy together if you give us a try."_

"_Let me go, Monty. You're wasting your time." she murmured._

"_NO!" he yelled._

Ferb couldn't help to turn around after that. He wasn't that far away from them but still it wasn't very easy to understand what was happening. He could see that Monty was slightly shaking Vanessa, and even if he couldn't see her face, he noticed that she was possibly crying for reasons he ignored. The anger was taking over his body with the thought of Monty making her cry, also his instincts were telling him to go over there and protect his beloved, but when he gave the first step forward, something inside him stopped him. Vanessa specifically asked him to give them some space to talk and he knew that if she was in distress, she wouldn't doubt to call him for help, or at least that's what he thought.

"_What we had was wonderful and I refuse to accept that it's over. I love you, Vanessa."_

"_I said, let me-" _Before she could finish, Monty leaned over and quickly pressed his lips into hers. Vanessa's eyes popped open and for a few seconds forgot how to react, she always thought that confronting Monty would be easier as the years passed, right after suppressing all kinds of feelings she once felt for him, but she need imagined that he would end up kissing her. She tried to pull back but Monty placed his arms around her body to deepen the kiss, then she realized that trying to break his embrace would only get things worse. She didn't love him anymore, and a kiss wouldn't change anything.

Then, there was Ferb. Within seconds his jaw dropped, his skin lost color, his hands started shaking and his heart stopped beating. He felt the pain of a stake crossing his heart multiplied by a thousand, there were so many mixed feelings and inside voices talking to him, all at the same time. _'…Why?' _he asked himself the most. Before his eyes there was the most beautiful girl he have ever met, Vanessa, kissing a man. He shut his eyes out of grief, hoping it was just a horrible nightmare. Unfortunately, every time he blinked the image went clearer and clearer. He couldn't believe it, not after so many amazing moments they spent together. But that didn't matter anymore, there was absolutely nothing he could do, Vanessa had already picked and wasn't him.

She was finally able to loosen his embrace and without hesitation, she raised her hand to slap him in the face. "Don't you ever kiss me again." she furiously said.

"But…Vanessa"

"Let me clear things out for you, Monty." she added, "I would never give us another try, okay? I don't love you anymore, like I said, you're wasting your time."

"A-At least let me help you with-"

"No," she interrupted and took the suitcase off his hands, "excuse me."

When Vanessa turned around, she couldn't find Ferb anywhere. She looked for him all around the zone but he wasn't there anymore. The rage she had on her system vanished in a snap of fingers, she worried about him and started wondering what could've happen to him. "Ferb?" she mumbled.

"I get it now." Monty said and frowned.

"What?" she asked.

"It's him, right? You're not giving me a chance because of that kid."

Vanessa met his eyes and crossed her arms. "He's not a kid, and that is none of your business."

"You gotta be kidding me, Vanessa. Isn't he like way younger than us?"

She tightened her fists and walked closer to him until she was face to face, "And what if he is? He's more of a man than you'll ever be." She said and started walking away from Monty, then she felt a hand softly grabbing her arm, making her stop.

"Wait," he said. "I'm sorry."

She sighed and rolled her eyes. _'Now what?' _she thought.

He looked down and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry I lost control, I-I understand that I lost my chance and I should've known you had already found someone else. I really wish you the best, Vanessa. All I want is to see you happy." He said and kissed her hand before leaving. "Good bye."

* * *

"Come on, Isabella, smile! Aren't you happy for Ferb? He'll be living with Vanessa!" Phineas said to his beautiful girlfriend, who was sitting on the kitchen table and watching him making coffee. Of course she was happy for him, the fact that Ferb was going to see Vanessa on his daily bases was probably something he needed to gain her heart, but she couldn't stop thinking about her earlier conversation with Gretchen. She lied to her, she made her think that something could happen between she and Ferb, even when she knew it's impossible.

"Yeah, sure…It's great" She said and looked down.

Phineas sat next to her and grabbed her hand. "What's the matter, dear? I thought you'd be, I don't know, more excited about it."

"Are you sure of what you saw?"

"Positive, she was on top of him and they were very near to each other."

"So, they're dating?"

"Mm," he thought for a second, "I'm gonna go with 'no'"

She looked confused at Phineas, then he added, "If they were, I think Ferb would tell me. He is no longer reserved on this 'Vanessa' thing, at least not with me."

Isabella stayed quiet. Phineas looked at her and realized that she had been in silence the entire time since she got to Ferb's place. After two years being her boyfriend, he knew that the best thing to do was to be with her and listen to any problem she had, but he could never guess what was in her mind. Maybe he changed in so many other things, but Phineas was still the same distracted, oblivious guy as always, so much that he could wait the entire night for Isabella to tell him what was happening. However, his intelligence and memory never failed him, he remembered she met with Gretchen for coffee earlier that day.

He squeezed her hand to gain her attention, "I see, you're sad for Gretchen."

"Yeah," she covered her face with her hands and sighed, "She insists on trying and it's really hard to tell her the truth. How am I supposed to cheer her up when I know that Ferb will never be for her?"

"Well-" Phineas stopped talking when he heard the sound of the door closing. Both he and Isabella stood up and left the kitchen, they found Ferb leaning on the front door looking down his feet.

"Ferb! You're finally here. Listen, while you were gone I received the new bed you ordered and I didn't want to leave without helping you so, I put all the furniture back in Vanessa's new room. Yes sir, I did it all by myself. Ha ha, you can thank me later." He said and took out a notebook with a drawing on it and a pencil, then he continued. "Anyways, I wanted your opinion on the position of the bed, you see, I placed it right next to the window so she could have more space, but it also could be a problem due to the sunlight, it would inevitably hit her face every morning."

Isabella stared at Ferb's countenance and quickly noticed that there was something wrong with him. "Uh, Phineas…."

"I thought that maybe some curtains could help but they'd have to be shorter than normal curtains. Now, if we rotate the bed and we place it on the other side of the room, she would have space but it wouldn't be that much, unless we get another chiffonier and we place it over here…" he added and started sketching on the notebook.

"Phineas…"

"Oh wait, wait, wait! I got it! If we remove this window and we put another one 37 centimeters to the right, it would light the whole room during the day and we can also leave the bed where it is. Perfect!" he smiled then scratched his head, "Huh, I wonder why I never did all this when I lived here."

"PHINEAS!"

"Yes?" he turned around and saw the worried look on Isabella's eyes, who was still staring at Ferb. His mood changed completely when he saw the lifeless expression on his step-brother's face, then he stepped forward and placed his hand on Ferb's shoulder. "Ferb? Everything alright, buddy?"

Without even looking at him, Ferb silently went upstairs in direction to his room. He wasn't acting like the normal British boy at all, the guy walking wasn't Phineas' brother. They could totally recognize his silence when it came to sadness, and he was definitely going through a hard situation. Unfortunately, they couldn't identify what was causing that strange attitude. They decided to give him his space so he could calm down and probably feel ready to tell them what happened.

It had only been a few minutes when they heard a loud noise coming from Ferb's room. They quickly made their way to the 2nd floor, Phineas reached the door and when he opened it, they saw Ferb in front of his empty desk resting his arms on it. There was a bunch of paper works, pencils and books spread over the floor, like if he just threw them on impulse.

Isabella covered her mouth while Phineas stepped forward to meet his brother. "FERB!" he cried, "What's the matter with you?!"

"Nothing." He replied abruptly.

Phineas frowned and grabbed him by his shoulders to turn him around. "I'm serious, this isn't you, clearly something happened and if you don't tell me, I'll-"

Ferb looked up and saw the angry look on Phineas' eyes, realizing that he probably had lost his temper and reacted in the worst way possible. "I'm sorry."

"Where were you?"

"Picking up her stuff from her old apartment."

Isabella went into the room and sat on the bed, "B-But, then where's Vanessa?" she asked.

"I…" he blinked then lowered his voice, "I left her behind."

She raised her brows in surprise, "Why didn't you help her?"

Ferb's eyes turned red and watery but he managed to hold his tears in front of them, then he took a deep breath and replied, "She…didn't need me."

"What was that?" Phineas asked.

He shut his eyes once again then out of nowhere, he released from Phineas' arms and punched the wall with his fist as hard as he could. Phineas and Isabella jumped scared to his attitude. She ran to the bathroom for the first aid kit and the red haired boy tried to grab him to make him sit on the bed, but Ferb resisted until he lost strength from his legs, then he fell on his knees with his face down.

"This is just…so frustrating," Ferb said, "How is it possible that he could get a kiss from her on a five minute meeting?"

"Wha-, a kiss? Who?"

"A twenty-something year old guy we ran into on our way here..."

Phineas frowned, "A stranger? She kissed a stranger?"

Isabella took Ferb's hand and started healing it, "I don't think she would kiss a stranger, Phineas." she said.

"I don't either…that is my problem. There are so many things I don't understand, but the fact that they kissed can't be for other thing different than love interest, something I'll never get from her." Ferb said, "I-I have been doing everything for her…but I guess…no matter of how I feel, no matter what I do, our relationship will always stay as it is. Nothing will allow me to cross that line, not even if I'm…madly in love with her."

They remained quiet, amazed on Ferb's last words. It was the first time Ferb said that out loud, but sadly the situation wasn't very pleasant to feel happy about it.

"I don't want to be rude but, I want to be alone." He added.

"So you can hurt yourself again? Forget it." Phineas said and crossed his arms.

"I will not do that again, I promise."

The couple stood up and so did Ferb, Phineas hugged him and slowly walked out of the room. Isabella took the first aid kit and kissed his cheek before hugging him, "Call us if you need anything, okay?" she said then walked out too.

* * *

Vanessa stopped by the coffee shop after her conversation with Monty, she stayed there until she as the last customer of the day drinking from her cup and thinking about everything. Monty wasn't a bad person if he was willing to accept his mistake after all those years, also understanding that he had no more chances with her, but Vanessa couldn't feel sure with his words. On the other hand, after all that time she finally had the opportunity to let out all the pain she had inside, which actually made her feel much better to realize that maybe someday she'll be able to forgive him. She felt happy for that until Ferb popped out in her head. _'Why did he leave?' _she thought. _'Why do I feel so empty without him?'_

"Excuse me, dear"

She turned her head and found the gray-haired old cashier right next to her. "Yeah?" she said.

"I'm sorry, sweetie, but we are about to close." The lady said politely.

"Oh, of course." Vanessa sighed and grabbed her suitcase, but before she could stand up, the old lady sat in front of her with a smile on her face.

"What is a beautiful young lady like you doing here alone?" she asked.

"I guess I'm meant to be like that," Vanessa looked down, "alone."

"Oh that is not true, love. What about that handsome British boy? Isn't he your boyfriend?"

"Are you talking about Ferb?"

"He's a frequent customer, he always comes here and sits over there to read a book." The old lady pointed to a table from outside. "He's always serious and quiet, drinking his usual-"

"Darjeeling tea."

"Now look at that! You seem to know him pretty well."

Vanessa unconsciously smiled and blushed. "He's predictable."

The lady chuckled and took her hand, "That boy likes you, and you seem to like him too, don't you dear?"

"I-I um..." Vanessa couldn't figure out how to answer, the nervousness was raising her heart rate and the only thing she thought she could do was to avoid the question. "H-How can you be so sure about that? Ferb is brilliant and wonderful, he can get any girl he wants, he could never be interested in a girl like me."

After a few seconds, the old lady let her hand go and stood up. She looked back at Vanessa and said, "He has a charming smile, you know. You should feel lucky for being able to see that so often."

"Why would you say that? He smiles all the time, and he's even talking more than ever."

"Well, sweetie, haven't you thought that maybe he does only when he's around you? You see, the one and only time I've seen his smile was when he brought you here not too long ago. Call me crazy, but I'm sure you are giving him the perfect reason to smile every day."

With that, the lady turned around and walked away from the table.

* * *

She opened the front door from her apartment and noticed all the lights were off, there were no sounds and signs of life around the place. She had hoped to find Ferb so she could talk to him, but the place looked so abandoned that she inferred he wasn't there. She went directly to the kitchen and when she turned the lights on, she saw two plates with dinner served and a note in front of them with her name on it.

_**Vanessa, **_

_**We hope you like your new room. Isabella made dinner for you and Ferb, but he's not feeling so good tonight. Please excuse him and enjoy you meal.**_

_**-Phineas Flynn**_

'_Not feeling good?'_ she thought. She grabbed her suitcase and went upstairs, all she wanted was to see him and explain everything to him. She stood in front of his door for a moment, there was a light coming out from the bottom of the door which confirmed that he was actually in there. Her hand raised two or three times with the intention to knock but her heart was beating so hard that it didn't allow her to continue. She gulped and took a deep breath, then she finally dared to knock.

_***knock* *knock* *knock***_

"Ferb?" she said. "Are you awake?...I don't mean to disturb, but I…there's something I need to tell you."

There was no answer, she thought that he was probably sleeping and it would be better to talk to him the next morning. "Um, alright….Good night." She turned around to go to her new room but after some steps, she heard Ferb's door slowly opening. When she turned her head, she found him standing outside of the room with his hands on his back. He was still wearing his pants but he had unbuttoned his shirt, showing his bare chest. His eyes looked weary but she related it with him being asleep before.

"Are you okay?" he murmured.

"Yes, are you okay?"

Ferb nodded. He closed his door and got closer to her while his eyes were locked on hers, wondering how could those eyes make him feel so weak, so much that he could do whatever she asked him to do. He hated the fact that being in front of her was no longer making him happy, not after seeing her kissing another man and knowing that she was probably not single anymore, but his love for her was way stronger than any negative thought around his mind. He just knew that when he looked at her, his body acted by itself.

"Ferb," she said, "I want to talk to you about Monty."

He shrugged. "Vanessa, that is highly personal and you don't have to-"

"No!" she interrupted, "No, Ferb, this is important. You have to know my backstory with him to understand why I haven't been in touch with you since our last dinner."

He didn't want to know more about Monty, but that was the only way he could finally get some answers and feel relieved about that subject. "Alright then." he said. They sat on the carpet, both leaning against the wall, alone in the darkness of the hallway. Vanessa was slightly hugging her legs, her hair was covering half of her face, and her eyes were saddened. He was next to her with his arms folded, hiding his injured hand under his armpit and waiting for her to start talking. Something he mostly loved about Vanessa was the way her voice changed when she talked about a serious issue, it gave him chills every time she did.

She suddenly met his eyes, "Monty is my ex-boyfriend," she said. "We met when we were 16 years old, I first saw him when he stopped by my dad's lab to help Perry the Platypus when his weird assistant double-crossed him. We accidentally met at a coffee shop weeks later and technically had our first date in there. He's the son of my dad's archenemy, and because of that I was supposed to 'hate' Monty too, but you know I've never been interested on following my dad's evil steps. That was one of the main problems on our relationship, we weren't comfortable with the idea of dating behind our father's backs, but it was the best way to make it work. We ended up telling them after dating for a few months and although my dad wasn't very excited, he accepted and supported Monty as my boyfriend. We went out for a whole year, he transferred to my High school so I got to see him every day, and everything was fine between us except for one thing…"

Ferb stared at her confused and saw her eyes closing, then she added. "A cheerleader was obsessed with Monty."

"Obsessed?"

"Insanely. She knew I existed but that wasn't an obstacle for her, she would just pretend I was not there at all and continue flirting with him. Once she lied to my dad by saying that I wanted to help him cleaning the labs after classes just so she could walk home with Monty. I never lost my temper because Monty was always rejecting her no matter if I wasn't around, he was my boyfriend, I trusted him and I didn't care about her. Anyways, one day I heard his friends asking him how intimate our relationship was and he didn't answer, he just avoided the question. I talked to him about me wanting to take things slow because, you know, I didn't feel ready for that and he said he respected me and that it was totally fine with him. The next days, Monty started acting weird with me and we kind of stopped seeing each other as often as we used to because I was searching for college scholarships and he always said he was 'busy'."

Vanessa's voice got lower at her last sentence, talking about the worst day of her life was harder than she thought it would be. Ferb knew exactly where things were going and was trying to hold his anger in front of her to let her finish, then she continued. "He asked me out for coffee the same day I got the acceptance letter from Alaska's best school, which was perfect cause I needed to discuss it with him before saying yes. I never imagined that day would end up terribly wrong for me. On my way to the coffee shop, I saw Monty leaving the cheerleader's house, putting on his hoodie and kissing her good bye. I waited for him to leave then knocked her door to teach her a lesson, but when she opened it, she hit my head with a brick and I fell to the ground. She humiliated and threatened me, I was so scared that the next things I did was call Monty to break up with him and take a flight to Alaska."

'_I will murder him.' _He thought while clenching his fists.

"Today he apologized and begged me to give him another chance, that's why he kissed me…"

Ferb shrugged and looked down.

"But I said no." she said.

He widened his eyes in surprise and turned to look at her. He saw her mouth letting out a small grin, then he sat upright on his knees and turned his body to her direction, "Vanessa," he murmured.

"Yes?"

"Why were you avoiding me?"

Her cheeks turned red then she buried her face on her legs, "When I got to Alaska, I promised myself that I wouldn't fall in love again to be protected from getting hurt, but then I saw you at the blueprint's store and you asked me out and… it was just freaking me out."

Ferb's heart started pounding, "What was freaking you out? he asked.

She felt her body shaking so she shook her head then quickly stood up facing him, "My feelings for you, Ferb!" she cried, "I started feeling something for you and I was forcing myself to let it go because-"

"Don't." he interrupted and stood up as well, "Please don't do that, Vanessa, don't run away from this." He placed his hands on her face and pulled her close to join their lips into a kiss.


	15. Chapter 15

**HI THERE! :D**

**Wow I finally finished the chapter haha! There you go guys, Chapter #15**

**Thank you very much for all your support, I love to see your reviews saying how much you like this story, it makes my day. :3**

**Enjoy!**

**I DO NOT OWN P&amp;F**

* * *

Chapter 15

Vanessa was shocked. Her eyes had a new shimmer, they pooped open when she felt Ferb's lips against hers. No matter if she wanted to she couldn't move her body, not even her hands. When she realized what was happening, an electric shock traveled around her inside, causing her heart rate go crazy. Ferb changed one of his hands from her face to her waist to pull her closer, his eyes were closed and his cheeks turned scarlet red. He was so concentrated on holding the feeling to look confident in front of her, but deep inside him he wanted to die of nervousness. He was trying to hold the butterflies in his stomach so hard, but it was almost impossible. The only think he could think about was the fact that she hadn't separated from him rejecting his kiss, also that it was probably the perfect moment to finally tell her how he felt. Maybe he couldn't do it in Paris, but things were different now. He was lip to lip with the girl of his dreams, one of the most awaited moments on Ferb's life.

When he finally broke the kiss, they looked into each other's eyes for a few seconds without saying anything. She opened her mouth to speak, but before she could say anything, he spoke.

"Vanessa," he said and placed one of her hands against his chest, "Can you feel this?"

She closed her eyes and felt his heartbeats, it was like if his heart was trying to pop out. Then she opened them and thought, _'So, what the old lady said was…'_

"This is how you make me feel." he said.

'…_true.'_

"I know exactly what it's like to shut yourself down to any love opportunity. I decided to live emotionally unavailable after breaking up with my first girlfriend, forcing myself to reject every girl that showed interest in me because I knew I would've had to pretend instead of being serious with any of them. But with you…with you everything is different. I don't know what you did to me, but you are always in my thoughts. I can't get you out of my head."

"Ferb, I-"

"And I beg your pardon if kissing you was inappropriate and irrespective, I know it might have freaked you out and I apologize for that. But Vanessa," he took both of her hands and held them against him, "I now have the courage to finally tell you, that you are the most special person to me. I have never met someone like you, someone that could make my day better with a simple smile, or even with just a stare. For me, you represent perfection. You are smart, joyful, funny and just the most beautiful woman I have ever seen in my entire life."

She blushed immediately after his last sentence. Even though she was shocked by the situation, she couldn't help to look at him tenderly.

He took a deep breath then added, "Vanessa, what I am about to say may be the riskiest thing I will say in my life but… I don't care if it's now or in 10 years, I-If you could only give me a chance to show you how much I care about you, I would-"

"Ferb," she interrupted, "I gotta stop you right there."

He blinked twice then let go her hands. He panicked for a moment thinking that what he just said might have been a bad decision, but he gulped and stood straight in front of her waiting for her to talk.

"You have to know that… when you rescued me from being hit by a truck and I looked in your eyes, I felt something. Ever since that day I've felt different when I'm around you, but due to my previous relationship I didn't want to mess things up between us. I panicked because my feelings were getting stronger than my will to suppress them, so much so that I couldn't control them anymore. Your kindness and sweetness made you impossible to ignore." She said and took his hand again with a smile on her face.

His jaw almost dropped and his eyes were shining, "Vanessa…" he murmured.

She did the same with his hand, placing it in her chest so he could feel her heart ponding. "I don't think I can pretend anymore." She said.

His eyes widened and slowly his mouth formed a smile, "So that means…"

She placed her arms around Ferb's neck, "Just kiss me already."

He smiled like he never did before and pulled her close to embrace her. They looked into each other's eyes then closed them when he brought his lips to hers. Even if that wasn't their first one, he poured all his love into that kiss for her to see that he was completely engaged with that new opportunity life was giving to him. He changed one of his hands back to her face to caress her soft cheeks, his fingers playing a little with her hair while his other hand was on her lower back. The taste of her lips were like he always imagined, soft and sweet. He never wanted that moment to stop, it was hard for him to believe that after so many years dreaming with her, Vanessa Doofenshmirtz was sharing a kiss with him. For Ferb, nothing could be better. She let out a soft moan, she ran her fingers through his emerald hair, encouraging him to deepen the kiss. She melted with the delicate touch of his hands, thinking that he was trying to show her how respectful he will be with her in the future. It was the first time in a while that she felt so good around someone's arms that she never wanted to let him go. She slowly moved her arms from his neck to his back, hugging him to feel his warmness even more. It was that moment when she realized she needed Ferb more than she ever thought, which made her feel great for deciding to take the risk with him. If she was happy, it was worth it.

After the kiss they both blushed as their eyes met. They shared a smile and stared at each other for a few seconds, they tangled their hands and he rested his forehead against hers before speaking.

"You made me the happiest man on earth." He said.

She giggled, "I have no idea of what would happen, but I'm willing to figure it out."

"As am I."

"I just have one question."

He nodded and saw that she grabbed his injured hand and raised it up to his face. "What happened to your hand?" she asked.

"Oh, um," he said and looked away, he didn't want her to know the real reason but also didn't want to lie to her.

"Ferb? I want the truth."

"I um…I punched the wall out of anger when I got here."

She stared at him in awe then frowned. "You punched the wall?! Why did you do that?!"

"I know it was wrong, but I did it searching for relief after seeing you with…"

"Oh my God, Ferb!" she cried, "ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?! THAT'S THE MOST IRRATIONAL THING YOU'VE EVER DONE!"

"But-"

"That's ridiculous! I didn't know you were capable of losing control like that, Ferb, you could've broken your hand!" she said and crossed her arms.

He stared at her and placed his hand on his chin, then he chuckled.

"Why are you laughing?!"

He took a step forward, "You know, this is possibly the first time you get mad at me."

"And why is that so funny?"

"Oh it isn't," he tipped her chin to make her look up, "But you look adorable when you get angry."

'_That British accent…'_ she thought. "You know, talking to me like that will not help you in the future."

"I don't mind, it helped me to get your lovely mood back and that's what matters to me."

She sighed. "Alright, you win. Now go to bed, Fletcher. It's getting late and you have school tomorrow."

"Yes ma'am," He leaned to kiss her cheek. "Good night." He whispered.

"Good night."

They both walked to their respective rooms. Ferb closed his door and stood in front of his bed for a while, he pinched his arm to make sure it wasn't a dream and almost jumped excited when he felt the pain of the pinch. It was definitely the happiest day of his life, he ignored the whole mess of the floor and threw himself on his bed letting out a big sigh. Vanessa didn't even notice how great her new room looked, she went in and sat on her bed right away. She passed her fingers over her lips remembering the last kiss, it was so magical that she thought of it like a scene from a romantic movie. Ferb was so firm about his words and passionate on the kiss that it was impossible to think that he was lying. She spent the entire night trying to finally deal with her feelings, she practically admitted that she liked him right on his face, but she had never actually said it to herself. His kiss and confession sweetened her heart and everything she felt for Ferb came out of her body. She went to bed with a smile on her face and looking forward to her future with the most amazing guy of all.

* * *

He opened his eyes with the sound of the alarm. He sat upright and noticed that the papers and notebooks from the floor were now in order on top of his desk, he scratched his head trying to remember if he picked them up the night before but couldn't remember. Perplexed, he stood up and walked to his personalized bathroom, it was time for school and he had to take a shower. Before entering, he looked at Vanessa's room and saw that the door was still closed, he thought that she was probably still sleeping and didn't want to wake her up.

He went in and pressed the green button.

'_Preparing personalized bathroom, welcome back Mr. Fletcher'_

He looked in the mirror and widened his eyes when he saw a pair of pink lips painted on his cheek. He grinned widely and sighed, _'It was worth the wait.'_ He thought. After getting dressed, he grabbed his backpack and quickly made it to the kitchen so he could take his keys and go to school on time, but much to his surprise, when stepped forward he saw a plate on the table filled with breakfast next to a note and a chocolate.

_Good morning, handsome._

_Today is a very special day, today is the start of something new. _

_I might not be the best cook, but I did my best to repay you once and for all every good thing you've done for me. See you later. Xoxo_

_Vanessa_

Ferb smiled and put the note on his pocket. He didn't mind if he was going to be late anymore, he sat down and started eating the delicious breakfast Vanessa made especially for him.

* * *

Phineas was leaning against Ferb's locker waiting for him to arrive. After leaving his apartment, he and Isabella kept talking about his situation and how it was changing Ferb. Vanessa seemed to be the love of his life and he understood that it would be tough to watch the girl you love with another man, but Phineas never expected to see his brother acting that way.

Isabella walked away from her friends and met her boyfriend, "He's not here yet?" she asked.

"No, and I don't know if he'll come today. I'm so worried about him, Isabella."

"I know, sweetie. We can go see him after classes, the best we could do is give him all of our support."

"Yeah, you're probably right. Maybe we could-" he stopped talking after seeing his green haired brother walking towards them. "Ferb! You…you made it."

Ferb smiled and simply opened his locker to take some books.

Isabella approached Phineas' ear, "I'll leave you guys alone," she whispered, "He trusts you more than me, maybe he'll tell you about, you know…"

"Right. Thanks Izzy, I'll see you at lunch."

She kissed his cheek and smiled at Ferb, "See you later, Ferb!" she said and walked away from the pair of brothers.

The British boy simply waved at her and continued picking up stuff from his locker. Phineas looked at his brother carefully, he tried to compare the Ferb from the previous night to the Ferb standing right in front of him. The look on his eyes no longer showed pain or anger, neither it showed desperation or impotence. On the contrary, he had his natural calm look, but instead of projecting a blank expression, Phineas could see in his new look a strong relief in his being. Leaving aside the fact that his hand was covered in bandages, Ferb was acting like he always did, like nothing had happened.

He dared to start a conversation, "So, how are you doing bro?" he said and placed a hand on Ferb's shoulder.

Still smiling, he answered with a thumbs up and closed his locker.

"How is your hand? Does it hurt?"

"Not at all, actually. It is much better thanks to Isabella." He said, "She definitely earned her First-aid patch when she was a Fireside Girl."

Phineas scratched the back on his head, "Heh, yeah. Um…Listen, I wanted to-"

"By the way, Phineas, can I see the adjustments you sketched for Vanessa's room please?"

"Oh…sure." Phineas took his notebook and handed it to his brother right away. "Here. Now Ferb, W-We need to talk about what happened yesterday, I think you-"

"Hm, this might work, brilliant." Ferb interrupted. "I wonder why we never thought of this before."

The red haired boy blinked twice, he couldn't help to smile after seeing his brother's mood much better. "Yeah, I thought of that too." He said, "But hey, there's something-"

"Do you have any plans tomorrow afternoon?"

"N-Not that I'm aware of"

"Well then, I guess you already know what we are going to do tomorrow." He said and started walking away from Phineas, who remained at his spot without moving.

"Ferb?"

He saw Phineas following him over his shoulder, then he stopped and completely turned around to meet his step-brother.

"I can see you are better and that's good but, it's just that I've never seen you acting with rage before and I wanted you to know that, I'll always be there for you okay? You can talk to me anytime you want."

"I know that, thank you brother." He said, "And don't worry about me, I assure you I'm fine."

And with that, Ferb waved at the red haired boy and continued walking to his class. It wasn't that he didn't want to tell his brother about what happened with Vanessa, he wanted to, but he needed to examine the situation. He never thought he would share his feelings with her the way he did, and most strangely, he never thought she would feel the same way. _'My feelings for you, Ferb!'_ Those words were circling his head since he got to bed, the image of the movement of her mouth saying those words was inerasable. That phrase symbolized the doors of her heart opening just for him. However, Ferb was used to do things as they should. If she was willing to start a relationship with him, then he had to properly give the first step forward. Depending on what happens afterwards, then he would talk to his brother. The only thing he knew for sure was that he was the happiest guy in the entire universe, and that he would do everything possible to be the best partner for Vanessa, the love of his life.

He got to his classroom and saw a familiar face right in front of the door, a girl dressed as cheerleader that seemed to be looking for someone inside the room. She noticed Ferb's presence by her side and turned her head, receiving him with a small smile.

"Oh, Ferb!" Adyson said. "Hey, have you seen Gretchen?"

He shook his head.

"Wow, I thought you'd know. She's always wherever you are, so I-" she stopped talking after covering her mouth with her own hand, realizing she shouldn't have said that.

He rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Sorry," she laughed nervously, "Just forget what I said."

"When was the last time you saw her?" he asked.

"Well, yesterday. She missed practice this morning and I haven't seen her around the halls. We would've called her but she changed her number, I only have one text from her but instead of her phone number it says 'Unknown'."

His eyed widened. _'A text from 'Unknown'?'_ he thought.

"Anyways, tell me if you see her, okay? Oh and if you still don't talk that much, just make a sound or a sign with your hands." She winked and walked away.

He glared at her then quickly pulled out his phone from his pocket. He almost forgot about that strange text he received a couple of days ago, _*I know it might be a little late but, can I call you?*, _from an unknown number. He remembered that he was expecting any sign from Vanessa when he got that text, and almost believed the message was from her, but now Adyson might have cleared things out before he had to ask. If it was indeed Gretchen the one who wanted to call him, what could be the reason? Also why didn't she call him when he replied? Ferb sat on his desk and thought for a moment. The last time he saw her walking by his locker she didn't talk to him like she usually did, she ignored him like if she was mad at him about something. He possibly would've known with that call if she had a problem with him, but given that it didn't happen, he would have to wait for any chance to ask her.

* * *

_***jingle* Doofenshmirtz lying in his sofa!**_

"Here you go, Dr. D" Gretchen said hanging a cup of tea to her professor, who was lying on the couch with a gloomy face. "Drink this, you'll feel much better."

Without saying anything he took the cup and sat upright to drink from it. She sat on a chair in front of the couch and cleared her throat to start talking. "I'm sorry for coming so early, I didn't you weren't feeling well." She said.

"Meh, it's not your fault," Doof said. "I should've known this could happen sooner or later."

"But what happened? Was there a problem between you two?"

"Well, the thing is…Wait, shouldn't you be at school?"

"Oh, um," she laughed nervously. Before she could answer, a noise coming from the outside caught their attention. Flying through the skies with his jetpack, Perry the Platypus approached to the penthouse and crashed the window to get it.

_***jingle* Perryyy!**_

Doof frowned and stood up, "Oh no, Perry the Platypus, you broke that window last week! You have no idea how much money I spend on fixing your mess just because it is WAY too difficult for you to use the door." He said walking towards the semi-aquatic fellow, who simply stared at him. "And this might be my evil lab and all that, but I still have to pay for this place. Now come with me."

"Perry?" Gretchen murmured.

He motioned the platypus to follow him until they got to the door. "See, it's right here! Look, Open…Close, Open…Close, it's veeery easy."

Perry glanced oddly at him.

"Don't look at me like that, if you knew that already then you should've used it. Now take your jetpack, fly out of here and knock the door like a good platypus. Go ahead, I-I won't do anything evil, don't worry. I'm not in mood today." He said patting Perry's back, pushing him unto the window then slowly walking back to the couch. Perry just ignited his jetpack and disappeared from the building.

Gretchen's eyes widened with such a weird encounter and before making any comment, the doorbell rang. "I'll get that for you, Doctor." She said and walked to the door. When she opened it, she found Perry the Platypus standing right in front of her with a bucket of ice cream in his hands. He tipped his fedora as a greeting, which she responded speechless moving away to let him in. For her it was still incredible to see him acting so much different, she was used to see him just growling and sleeping in the Flynn-Fletcher's backyard, but now he was even capable of having kind of a conversation with her ex-professor. She returned to her chair and saw Perry handing the ice cream to Doofenshmirtz.

"What's this? Ice cream!?" he asked, "Oh, so you probably know already what happened, right? I still don't know how Francis gets to figure out every single change in my life, that's privacy invasion. I'm certainly writing a complaining letter. And by the way, isn't ice cream a stereotypical sign of depression on young girls?"

Perry shrugged, Gretchen raised a finger to answer but words didn't come out of her mouth.

"Oh well." He said and took the bucket of ice cream. "You came in time, Perry the Platypus, I was about to tell the story to Gretchen here."

"Um, excuse me…" she said looking at Perry, "Do Phineas and Ferb know that you fight with a Physics teacher?"

"_A-Actually he fights an evil scientist…who's not that evil now." _

Perry shook his head and gave her a pamphlet.

"Mmh, I see, if they get to know about you being an "agent" either you get relocated or they would need to have their memory erased. That's awfully cruel, don't you think?"

Doof cleared his throat. "Can we skip all the pamphlet's explanation to focus on the depressed scientist over here?"

"Oh right, sorry Dr. D" she said, "So, what happened with your girlfriend? I thought you had a solid relationship."

"I thought of that too, but I guess I was wrong. This aaalways happens to me, let me tell you a story that Perry the Platypus probably knows already. But I don't care because it's back story time. A life time ago, I was young and in love with a beautiful girl, she taught me how to see the beauty of life and I taught her-"

"Wait," she interrupted, "Are you telling the story about Elizabeth? The girl who loved whales?"

Doof and Perry looked at each other then back to Gretchen, "How do you know that?" he asked.

"You told our class that story on High School, but we always thought your backstories were fake."

"FAKE!?"

"Yeah, like the one of you being raised by ocelots." She laughed, "That's a good one."

He angrily stood up, "THOSE WERE REAL, EVERYTHING I TOLD YOU REALLY HAPPENED!" he cried.

Perry immediately jumped and slapped him in the face to calm him down. Doof just blinked twice and sat back on the couch. "Thanks, Perry the Platypus. Sorry, Gretchen."

"And what was the problem now?" she asked.

"I started to notice that she was getting bored of our routine. You see, I'm too old to do many things at once, I'm used on doing a routine, i-it is much easier to me. Working on new inators, Thursday bowling nights, and also spending quality time with her are part of my daily routine…or most likely the entire routine. Apparently she was expecting more of the relationship when she moved in with me."

"Didn't you try something to make her feel more comfortable with you?"

"Well, here's the thing. I've never had a mid-life crisis so I wasn't really like other people my age. I always see other men wearing toupees and getting sport cars that run ridiculously fast and I-I just don't feel like doing that, it's insane! Can you imagine me driving one of those?...Anyways, I couldn't feel the need to behave like young people but I wanted to become a more interesting man for her. I kept thinking and thinking about a way of doing it and I couldn't think of anything until yesterday." He said pointing out a large machine on the back of the room.

Gretchen turned her head to follow his finger. "The Alter Ego-Inator?"

"Yeah, it could've helped me but I didn't use it. I-I didn't even finish it, I thought 'if she's with me it's due to my natural charm and I don't need to become anyone else' but like I said…I was wrong."

She walked towards the machine and released a small grin, "So, this machine can change people's personality…making them more interesting?"

"It could be." He said.

She smiled and shut her eyes, the image of Ferb popped in her head. _'Perfect' _she thought.

"But it could also be dangerous, that's why I didn't-" he stopped talking when he saw Gretchen running towards him.

"Dr. D, I want to ask you a favor." She said with a look full of hope.

"Yes?"

"Try the Alter Ego-Inator on me."

"Huh!?"

"Please, I really want to see if there's another Gretchen in me that could be different. Please, Doctor."

"Why do you want to become a completely different person?" he asked rubbing his chin.

"Personal reasons." She replied with her head down, her cheeks turned red and she lingered her hands in front of her. She noticed the awkward look from the scientist, then she added, "Dr. D, this is important to me. I really need your machine, and your help. This could help you too, if you get busy working on the inator, you won't have time to think about your girlfriend. What do you say? Please Doctor, this could be the solution to all of my problems, please, please, please."

He sighed, "It is not finished, though. I might need your assistance if you want-"

"Of course!" she jumped joyfully, "Thank you very much, Dr. D!"

"Yeah, yeah. Now let's get to work!" he left the bucket on the table and put on his lab coat, then he stepped closer to the machine.

Gretchen noticed that Perry was glaring at Doofenshmirtz, she didn't want her plan to be interrupted by the semi-aquatic fellow due to his responsibility of stopping the 'evil scientist'. She bent over and gave him a charming smile.

"Perry?" she said to catch his attention. "I need a favor from you too."

He blankly stared at her.

"Please don't stop Dr. Doofenshmirtz, let him work on the inator."

Perry raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms, then she added, "He's not doing it to rule over the Tri-state Area, he's doing it to help a simple student. I promise it won't cause any troubles." she got closer to whisper, "This is my last chance to finally make Ferb look at me with other eyes, he could finally like me. Please, Perry. Deal?" she raised her pinky finger, motioning him to accept.

The platypus thought for a moment, then he smiled at her and hooked his finger with hers.

She sighed relieved, "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!" she raised and gave him a tight hug out of excitement. "Don't worry, I won't tell them your secret, just don't erase my memory okay?"

Perry gave her a thumbs up. When she turned around, he couldn't help to change his expression from happy to worry. If she gets hurt with Doof's inator, he was going to be in a very difficult situation where he would have to break his promise, he really hoped that never happened.

Gretchen rolled up her sleeves. "Alright, let's get started."

* * *

After his classes, Ferb was the first person to get out of the building. He was desperate to see Vanessa again, he wanted to hear her marvelous voice saying his name, he wanted to feel capable of smelling her perfume during a warm embrace, and also to taste once again those pink lips of hers. He knew it was almost her lunch time and he wanted to thank her for the time she spent cooking the wonderful breakfast from that morning. He took out his cellphone and looked for his beloved to start writing.

_*I couldn't be more thankful for such a delicious breakfast. You're the loveliest, Vanessa. How is your day going?* _

_*I'm glad you enjoyed it, I made it especially for you. I've been busy all day, it's awful.*_

_*When is your check out time?*_

_*6 o'clock, I'll have to stay three more hours after my lunch time. I asked permission yesterday to get back home after lunch so, I have to replenish those hours.*_

_*Let me pick you up then, maybe we can spend the rest of the day together. We could do whatever you want.*_

_*I'd love to, I'll sent you the location.*_

She couldn't stop smiling the entire morning. Although she suspected it, she never thought that Ferb would ever have a thing for her. What did he really see in her? Yes, the night before he mentioned her beauty and intelligence, but they were just so different that she never imagined that a brilliant, nice and handsome guy could be able to like her. She stopped working on her computer and rested her head on her hand for a moment. That really didn't matter, she also never thought she could look Ferb in a different way other than a friend. That's how couples get together, it just happened and there was no need to run away from that. It was almost like a dream where every single worry that existed in her just vanished when they kissed, she felt protected in his arms, like if from now on she wasn't going to be alone. All the ideas she had about giving love a try changed in a snap of fingers. Although she was a little scared for getting hurt again, she would never know if she didn't give it a try.

A lady reached her desk and placed a folder in front of her face. "Vanessa, Bob told me to give this to you. It's the list of documents you have pending to bring."

She blinked, then replied, "He told me I had until the end of the training to bring them."

"Yeah I know, but it's just a reminder."

"Alright." She took the folder then grabbed her phone and kept staring at Ferb's number. She didn't notice the lady was still in front of her until she spoke again.

"You look happy."

Vanessa looked at her then blushed, "I-Is that so?" she murmured.

The lady smiled, "Ohh, I love young couples. They always look dreamy." She said and walked away from Vanessa's desk.

She sighed and opened Ferb's conversation, _*Can't wait to see you.* _she wrote. Two seconds after she pressed the send button, she got back to work on her computer and left the cellphone on her desk. The noise from all the other employees seemed to be the same until she heard some very familiar footsteps coming from behind. She tried not to care about them given that it was probably just her imagination, until she heard a British voice behind her.

"Well, you can turn around and see me now."

She gasped and turned her head to see the gorgeous green-haired guy standing in front of her with a bouquet of roses on his hands. "Ferb!" she cried and happily threw herself in his arms. For a moment it felt like his arrival was part of her fantasy until she felt the warmness of his embrace and heard clearly his usual chuckle right on her ear, then her eyes widened and broke the hug to raise her hands up to his face.

"Wait, you're real…" she said after patting his cheeks for a few seconds, "Ferb! What-…how-…who-"

He grinned, "I think you should finish one question before asking another."

"Who let you in!?"

"No one actually. The door is over there." He said pointing to a side of the room.

"Ferb, this is a Trading room and you're not supposed to be here!" she looked around and noticed that no one was paying attention to them, she took the flowers then added, "Although everyone seems to mind their own business, if my boss sees you here, I'll get in big troubles. You have to leave, like, now!"

Without changing his expression, he took her hand and kissed it, "Calm down, Vanessa" he said.

Suddenly, they heard a gray-haired man talking from one side of the room and slowly approaching them. "My oh my, is that Ferb Fletcher?"

Vanessa raised an eyebrow, "Bob?"

"Ferb, my boy! It's so good to see you!" he said while shaking hands with the British boy, "What brings you here? Do you need help with something?"

He nodded, "Not at the moment, but thank you. I'm actually here to see Vanessa."

"You…you know each other?" she asked.

Bob placed one arm around Ferb's shoulders, "Ha! I've known him and his brother since they were ten, I've been their financial adviser since they started earning money for their crazy satellite." He turned his head over to meet Ferb, "By the way buddy, your money is safe like always."

"Then I guess I left it on the best hands." He said then glanced at Vanessa, "Well, I better leave. At what time is your lunch?"

She sighed, "I still have to be here for another 20 minutes, so-"

"Oh forget about that, dear." Bob interrupted, "You don't want this little guy to wait for you that long, do you? You're free to go, and I'll see you tomorrow."

"B-But Bob, what about the hours from yesterday? Don't you remember?"

"Of course I do, but don't you worry about that anymore. I'll see you early tomorrow, alright?"

Although the hours she missed the previous day could affect her paycheck, she simply nodded and obeyed her boss by grabbing her purse. Still smiling, Ferb took the bouquet and offered his arm to her, then both of them started walking away from her cubicle. She saw out of the corner of her eye that he turned his head and winked at her boss before leaving the room, but she waited until they got to the elevator to start talking.

"How is it possible that you know everyone?" she asked.

He chuckled, "I will gladly answer that if you answer my question first."

"Which one?"

He stood in front of her, placed one arm around her waist and pulled her close to him, he spoke until their face were mere inches from each other's, "You greeted me with a hug, would you allow me to add something to your greeting?"

"You don't even have to ask." Vanessa smiled and reached the back of his head with her hands. As the doors of the elevator were closing, their eyelids were slowly dropping until their lips met again into a lovable, tender kiss.


	16. Chapter 16

**Hi everybody!**

**Ok, I know I should've posted this chapter a looooong time ago, but I can explain what happened. **

**NOTE: FOR THOSE WHO ARE NOT INTERESTED, FEEL FREE TO IGNORE THIS MESSAGE, IT'S ALRIGHT :)**

**When I finished the previous chapter, a friend of mine questioned me about how the characters/scenes looked like in my head during the writing process. The day I planned on starting this chapter, I took my old drawing notebook and I started drawing the scene where Ferb and Monty meet from "Chapter 14". The last time I drew something was a long time ago and I got so excited that it really took me a lot of time to get started with "Chapter 16", I'm sorry for that. I also had other complications but, nothing important. The thing is, I would love to draw parts of this story in the future and for that, I'll need your help. :3**

**If you want to leave a review, I'd like you to tell me which has been your favorite scene from "I'm Yours" up to now. I'll be checking your answers constantly and when I'm done with the story, I promise I'll do my best to make it happen. :D**

**Thank you all!**

**I present to you "Chapter 16". Enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 16

He opened the car's door for her and gave her the roses on his hands, he then joined her inside and started driving with no destination. It really didn't matter, Vanessa being next to him and knowing that they were going to spend the evening together was enough. Also knowing that he could now have more evenings like that one in the future was like a dream come true. While driving, Ferb dared to look at her a couple of times, sometimes their eyes met and she simply turned her head to the window. He loved seeing her acting like a little girl who was sitting next to her special friend on a little bench from grade school, playing with her hands and covering her slightly red face with her radiant brown hair. They were in total silence for a couple of minutes, which worried him more than he expected. He was used to hear her voice talking to him instead of doing the entire conversation, showing that he was still the man of few words she knew when they were younger, but given that he could see the nervousness in her face, maybe it was him the chosen one to break the quietness of the vehicle. He had never had an issue talking to her in any kind of situation, but he wasn't quite sure about her thoughts at that moment and he didn't want to make her uncomfortable. He knew that if he didn't act quickly, he was going to get anxious and that wouldn't be helpful at all. He opted for being himself, if she feels comfortless at any point, he knew she'd tell him anyway. He stretched his arm and reached her hand to rub it softly with his thumb, which caught her attention right away.

"You look lovely today." He said.

Vanessa expression changed inevitably, her mouth formed a smile. "You really think so?"

He nodded. "Everything alright?"

"Yeah, I'm just…a little distracted but that's all. I guess I'm just not used to this things." she said and looked down with a timid smile on her face. Ferb glanced her trying to understand her last statement, he couldn't tell exactly what she meant but before he could ask, she happily turned to him and added, "I'm feeling like having salad, what do you say?"

He smiled back and gave her a thumbs up. He looked around and after driving for a few minutes, he pulled over in front of a salad's restaurant he knew for years. She didn't even had to show him or ask him if he knew a place, she knew that Ferb was the kind of guy that cared about his body and health since the day they met again at the Blueprint Heaven. When he got out of the car, her gaze followed him until he got to her door to open it. She admired his entire attractiveness like if it was the first time she saw him in her life, she wondered how she could possibly resist to his charms for so long and why she was trying to suppress the happiness she was feeling at that moment. His loving eyes looking back in hers made her forget the nervousness she felt and her mood went back to normal. They ordered on the counter then picked a table to wait for their food.

"You should've told me you were going to visit me." She said with her lemonade of her hands.

"True, but in my opinion I rather surprise you just to get that kind of hugs in reward."

She giggled, "Then I guess you'll get them all the time. You are full of surprises, Ferb Fletcher."

They shared a smile, then he added, "Not just me, apparently."

"Huh?"

"Yesterday I drove you to a different place. Since you never mentioned it, I never imagined you were working as a trader. It is quite impressive."

"Well, I needed to pick up some documents for my boss and well…" she moved her hair behind her ear, "I'm not technically a trader."

"You're not? How come?"

"I'm more like a trainee." she said.

"Hm," he placed one hand on his chin, "I get it, you're competing with other people to get the job."

"Exactly, and though Bob always says I have the advantage over the others, I'm not that sure about it. I mean, it's a tough competition if we can call it that way."

"You'll see that position will be yours. Trust me."

Her eyes widened and immediately met his eyes just to find a tender look hitting her. Before saying anything, she thought about the firmness and confidence of his voice, then frowned. She abruptly stood up and pointed a finger right to his face, which made him blink a couple of times.

"Oh, no mister! You are not going to be part of this!"

He raised an eyebrow.

"I know what you're thinking, you gave me that look yesterday when you were planning on painting the entire room by yourself. Yes, Bob might be friend of yours, but I don't want to become a trader for something different from my effort. Look, although I appreciate your intentions, I'm really giving my best to get the job and if you talk to him, I wouldn't feel like I gave the best of me to get it. So, I'll just say it once, do not-" she stopped talking when she saw Ferb's hand slowly lowering hers in between quiet laughs. She froze when he stood up too and pulled her to bring her closer so he could place a little kiss on her forehead, then he grinned and motioned her to get back on her seat. After she did, he sat back without letting her hand go, then he spoke.

"As much as I'm willing to do absolutely anything for you, I would never do such thing."

She stared at him confused, "You wouldn't?"

"Of course not. First of all, your boss is one of the most stubborn persons I have ever met, it is possible that if I wanted to persuade him to hire you it wouldn't help at all. Second, even if he listened to me, it wouldn't be fair for the rest of people who yearn that position just like you do."

She looked down, ashamed for accusing him unnecessarily.

He leaned over to her and tipped her chin to make her look up again, "And third, I am 100% positive that you are capable of earning it without anyone's help. You are a woman that would do anything to get what she wants, no matter how long it takes or how hard it is to get it. I know for sure that you will be able to prove Bob that you have the whole package to be the trader he's looking for."

"How can you be so sure?" she asked, lost in his eyes.

"A long time ago I saw a goth teenager at a SuperDuper Mega Superstore, she did all she could to get a capsule of Pizzazium Infinionite for her father. She even had to fight for it against my sister and friends, yes, she had a couple of complications but at the end, she succeeded. Do you want to know why?"

Vanessa's jaw dropped, those memories appeared in her head within seconds. She couldn't talk for that instance, the fact that he remembered with precision what happened more than ten years ago left her astonished. For some reason, it was giving her a great deal of happiness. His words were not doing anything else than making her fall for him more and more.

"…Because she didn't gave up. And if she wasn't a quitter then, she is not a quitter now."

"You remember that day?"

"I could never forget it, Vanessa."

"Oh, Ferb…"

Her eyelids were dropping as he gently pulled her face towards his, he closed his eyes entirely and got closer to her lips with the loveliest intention to seal them with a kiss. Unfortunately, both of them promptly opened their eyes when they heard someone clearing his throat right next to them.

"Um, excuse me," the waiter boy said with a careless face, "so sorry to kill the mood but, your order's ready."

And with nothing else to say, he placed their salads on the table and left. Ferb and Vanessa watched him leave then looked back at each other's. She covered her mouth and started laughing, her cheeks turned pinker every time she looked at him. He silently laughed with her and got back to his seat.

"I swear I felt like there was no one around." She said.

"I know what you mean, but I hope you get used to it."

She giggled, "What do you want to do next?"

Ferb shrugged and kept staring at her big beautiful ocean blue eyes. Mentioning the time they spent together looking for the rare chemical at the store and knowing that Vanessa didn't forget about it, made his day. He thought of the moment he saw her for the first time, he remembered the kind of fantasies he used to have every time he looked at her, she was just the most interesting girl he had ever seen. That girl was now sitting in front of him, willing to start what it looked like a relationship with him. It was so curious for him the way things can turn around in a snap of fingers without even noticing what's going to come next. He became someone different than a confident, different than a simple friend, different than a _kid_, he had the opportunity to show her who Ferb Fletcher was in the last week and it really made effect on her. She was interested on him, and he loved her more than anything. He would kill himself if he had to let her go.

"You don't really care, do you?" she asked.

He chuckled, "You make it sound like it's a bad thing."

"Ferb!"

"Vanessa, don't take it the wrong way. All I want is be with you, I'll go anywhere you want to go."

She blushed, "You're so corny."

"I'll stop if you want me to."

"No!, please don't. I-I don't mind, it's cute and I like it." She drank from her beverage and looked away, then she added, "In that case, I do know what I want to do next."

"You are in charge." He replied.

"Perfect."

They were sharing another wonderful meal together, eating they salads, chatting and laughing. It felt almost like their first date, but quite different at the same time. There was so much chemistry between them, every word spoken from their mouth had a very impressive impact on each other. The sound of Ferb's voice gave her goose bumps, it made her feel not only nervous but also confident, something no one could do to her in the past. The curve of her cheeks formed by the way she smiled with her delicate lips drove him increasingly crazy. The caress of his emerald hair against his forehead and ears emphasized his manly rudeness and sexy attractiveness, reminding her the rock and roll kind of guy she used to like when she was younger. The way her hair curved her neck made him think about the softness of her skin he felt when he first got to touch her, it was like a brand new porcelain doll. Every gaze they shared symbolized a new discovery, a discovery that didn't have the necessity to be told. Ferb had enough by telling her and just her how he felt once and for all, and Vanessa felt complete after facing her fears and giving love a try.

* * *

"I must say, deciding to work on the Alter Ego-Inator was the best idea ever." Doof said while setting the last touches to his machine, "This is the first time in sooo long I get to work on something like this without being stop by Perry the Platypus, it's like a Christmas present I never got…Actually that's not true, the only thing I wish for every year is to stop those terrible carolers from singing door to door. It is so annoying, _We wish you a merry Christmas We wish you a merry-_ GAH! Why do they have to sing the same songs? Can't they just stay at home and watch some crazy Christmas special on the T.V? I mean, that's what I do."

Gretchen was still standing right behind him, she blinked a couple of times after hearing her professor babbling about random things while working. She gave a step forward and finally spoke, "That's very interesting Dr. D but, um…"

"It's not like they're my favorite things to watch on the T.V, but doing it has really helped me to forget about evil for at least once a year. Well, obviously until Perry the Platypus arrives, then it's the same old routine." He said.

"Perry?" She turned her head over her shoulder and found the semi aquatic fellow trapped on a chair, rolling his eyes. When their eyes met, he simply shrugged and sighed. She shook her head and focused back on her ex professor. "Dr. Doofenshmirtz, that's all great but I-I have one question."

"Alright but make it quick, okay? I'm still busy and as you can see, I seem to be doing this all by myself, you know."

"B-But I've been standing right here all day asking you for instructions and you never tell me what to do. I know I said I'll help you but how am I supposed to know what do?"

"Oh" Doof stopped and turned his head to look at her, "Well I guess I got carried away because let's face it, I might not be as handsome, charming and successful as my pretentious brother Roger but, hey! I'm a scientist and I-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." She interrupted and sighed, "but I thought you said you only had to settle for how much time I could stay as my Alter Ego."

"I did say that…and you just reminded that to me, thanks." He said and got back to the machine.

She put a hand on her face, "Doctor I know you are the 'genius' here but if you only had to fix that one thing, why did you undo the entire inator? Was it really necessary?"

"I figured out a more practical way to get your Alter Ego out without shooting you with a laser, just hold on."

"Good grief…" she mumbled.

After hearing her, Doof frowned and turned around completely to see her, he crossed his arms. "Now let me tell you something young lady, I could be laying on that couch for hours sinking in my own doom but instead of that, I'm doing you a favor, okay? I'm working on the Alter Ego-Inator just for you, remember?"

Gretchen's face changed when she realized what was happening. She was really asking Doofenshmirtz to do something no one else could or would do for her, his inator was all she had to try for one last time to gain Ferb's heart. She felt like a jerk for being desperate and obnoxious with him when he was only trying to help her. Her red cheeks were dripping a few tears, and with her face down she got closer to Doof. When he turned around to see her, he worried enough to apologize for his voice tone but before he could say a word, she spoke.

"You're right, I'm truly sorry Dr. D, I should be appreciating more what you're doing for me. I'm sorry."

"Oh, t-that's okay dear, you don't have to cry. Listen, Why don't you go and sit over there with Perry the Platypus? I'm about to finish so, please."

"A-Are you sure?" she asked.

"Absolutely. I'll be done in a minute."

She wiped her face and walked over to the couch. She felt relieved that her behavior didn't cause that much trouble for her ex professor, she would never forgive herself if she was the one who ruined her plans to finally get Ferb's heart. Before she sat down, she stopped next to the little platypus, who was sitting in a chair with his paws trapped on it. "Hi Perry, let me give you a hand with this." She said then she pressed the button at the back to release him.

Perry smiled at her to show her his gratitude, but the sad look on her face got his attention. She kept looking down playing with her hands, he understood right away that something was bothering her but couldn't figure out why. When she asked him to stay out of Doof's way to fix the machine he imagined that she'd be happy to see he was willing to do it, but the complete idea of using the inator was apparently not giving her the satisfaction she was looking for. He gave a step forward and placed a paw on her knee to make her look up.

"What is it, Perry?" she asked.

He simply stared at her with worrying eyes.

"Don't worry, I'm fine! Look at me, I'm excited!" she faked a smile in front of him, making him cross his arms. She sighed and her face went down again, "I'm not a good liar, am I?"

Perry shook his head and sat next to her on the couch.

"I'm sorry for making you worry, it's just that…I really hope this works. It has to work." She clenched her fists and tried not to cry again, instead she looked at the platypus and started petting him. "You know, Perry, I know I told you this was my last chance to make Ferb look at me like something else other than a friend, but I think I might have confused you more than I expected, am I right?"

He shrugged.

"It's funny because you probably didn't even know that I had feelings for one of your owners. Believe it or not, I never imagined I could even see him as a friend. When I got to the Flynn-Fletcher's backyard for the first time, I was with the Fireside Girls and we ended up there because Isabella wanted us to meet her inventive neighbors, especially the one she had a crush on. We first met Phineas and we liked him immediately, he invited us to stay there and have a good time which we found really nice of him…then we met Ferb, his quiet step-brother. He really got my attention when I looked at him carefully, I don't think I was the only one who thought he was a very interesting boy but I never asked the other girls about it."

"_This is my brother, Ferb. Bro, they are the Fireside Girls, they will help us out with today's activities."_

"He didn't say anything, he greeted us by waving his hand but there were no words coming from his mouth. Isabella had mentioned before that Phineas' brother was a very intelligent boy, but he was also very uncommunicative. Something you probably know already, but at that time I thought he wasn't talking because he was sick or something. I believed on Isabella's words after a going to their backyard some other times and watching Ferb being as quiet as always. There were moments where I was curious about him, but there were also moments where I simply didn't want to be near to him, so much so that I ended up being the only girl who had never spoken to him. My senses just couldn't trust him and kept telling me to be cautious, I was pretty sure there was absolutely nothing that could make me change my mind about it until…"

_***Flashback***_

"_Hi Phineas!"_

"_Hi Isabella" he turned around and saw the group of girls behind her black haired friend. "Oh, hi there girls!"_

"_Hi!" the girls said in chorus._

"One day Isabella asked us to help Phineas and Ferb once again with their big idea, she wanted us to keep Phineas away from doing much of the work because she wanted to spend some alone time with him, something we thought could be impossible since Ferb was always by his side. However, she proved us wrong by doing something I thought I could never forgive."

_Izzy waited until Phineas got distracted, then she turned around to meet the girls, "Alright girls, it's time to carry out the plan." She whispered._

"_We got your back, sister." Adyson said._

_Izzy smiled and got back to Phineas, "So, whatcha doin'?"_

"_We're building the largest trampoline in the world!" he said._

"_Awesome, you guys need any help? We're trying to get our gymnastic skills' patch."_

"_As a matter of fact we do need help, let's get started!" _

"The girls and I got to work on the trampoline along with the boys. The other girls tried so hard to stay working near Ferb as much as they could to make sure he was far from Phineas, but it didn't go that well 'cause somehow he managed to be with him. I didn't bother to try for two reasons, one: I knew it wasn't going to happen, and two: I wanted to keep my distance from Ferb. With the pass of time I had learned how to keep my mind distracted from my concerns about his mysterious silence, however, during the construction of the trampoline I couldn't stop thinking about it. I asked Phineas a couple of times in the past but he always said Ferb was a man of action who spoke only when it was absolutely necessary. Instead of being more interested on knowing about him, I was more and more freaked out about his way of being. I know it sounds awful but it was true, I didn't want to have any kind of interaction with him for my own safety. But then…"

"_Hmm, there's something wrong…" Phineas murmured while taking a look to the huge trampoline._

_Isabella and Gretchen walked over to him, "What's the problem, Phineas?" Izzy asked._

"_The trampoline doesn't look firm on its right side."_

_The girls half-closed their eyes, then Izzy continued, "It looks fine to me."_

"_He's right." Gretchen said, Phineas and Isabella's eyes turned to her, "The two legs and the poles from the right side of the trampoline look loose, if you leave it like that, it could be dangerous for the ones jumping on it. You should tighten the nuts."_

"_That's exactly what I was thinking, but that was Ferb's duty and I don't think he'd-" He stopped after feeling Ferb's hand on his shoulder. "Ferb! Hey bro, did you-"_

_Before he could continue, the green haired boy showed him his open hand with the defective nuts and bolts on it._

"_Now that was the problem! We can't finish the trampoline with these, we have to buy new ones. Let me go get my notebook and we could go to the store, be right back."_

_Ferb just nodded and walked towards the fence gate. _

_Isabella sadly looked down knowing that her little crumb cake was leaving for a while, and when she felt Gretchen's presence on her side, her eyes got their shimmer back along with a big smile. "Gretchen! This is your call!" _

_She blinked twice. "My what?"_

_Suddenly, they heard Phineas steps approaching to his brother. Izzy quickly took Gretchen by her arm and ran to their direction. "Phineas, wait!" she cried._

"_What's the matter?" he asked._

"_Gretchen will go to the store with Ferb."_

_Gretchen gasped, her face turned slightly blue of terror, "ME!?"_

_Completely ignoring her, Izzy continued, "You know, so you can stay here supervising."_

"_Supervising?" he asked confused._

"_Well, yeah. This is your invention after all, right?"_

_Phineas placed one hand on his chin, "Perhaps you're right, is that okay with you Ferb?"_

_He replied with a thumbs up._

"_Cool, maybe I should check the last details from the left side of the trampoline..." he turned to Isabella and offered her a hand, "Would you like to come with me?"_

_"OFCOURSE!"_

_They walked away from Gretchen, who was still frozen with a terribly scared look on her face. She gulped and turned her head just to find Ferb holding the fence gate for her. Without looking at him, she ran outside and tried to stay as far as possible from him, which actually confused him a little. _

"Given that I had no choice, I went to the store with him to get the stuff they needed. I thought he probably needed someone to go with so he could stay quiet while the other talked for him, but apparently I was wrong. I was amazed on how people could understand him even when he didn't talk, we literally got to the store and the owners already knew who he was and what he needed, they acted like there was a certain way to communicate with him. It was unbelievable, almost absurd. While we were walking back to the backyard, I tried to stay behind him to I could keep an eye on him. You're probably thinking that I was exaggerating, and I admit I was, I'm actually glad I stopped that afternoon. Anyways, I was having troubles with the bag I was carrying…it was too heavy and it was hurting my wrist…"

_Ferb was walking almost 2 meters ahead from Gretchen, both of them had heavy bags on their hands. When she couldn't hold the pain anymore, she stopped and dropped the bag to the floor._

"_Ouch." She groaned._

_Within seconds she raised her head and saw that Ferb's legs stopped moving, then he slowly turned his head to look at her over his shoulder._

_She gulped once again, "W-Why did you stop?"_

_There was no reply, he completely turned around and gave two steps forward._

_She panicked with the odd look on Ferb's face, she took the bag right away and started giving some steps back. "W-Wait, don't come near me..."_

_He saw that she was getting close to a sewer cover, he raised his hand and opened his mouth to warn her but before he could, Gretchen's foot got stuck to the handle of the cover and she fell directly to the ground. She started moaning and grabbing her hurt ankle, and when she heard steps approaching, she shut her eyes waiting for the worst. But nothing happened. She slowly opened her eyes and met those caring, oceanic blue eyes of his. Ferb was on one of his knees right in front of her._

"_I apologize for being so inconsiderate, Gretchen. I should have known that this was so much weight for such a delicate hand like yours, now your ankle is injured and it is my fault. I beg your forgiveness."_

"…_H-How do you know my name? Did Isabella tell you?" she murmured._

_He nodded._

Perry smiled proudly.

"I was speechless, I realized how wrong my impression of him was and I thought I was going to shut my face in the ground out of embarrassment, but I couldn't stop looking his eyes. I saw the graciousness and pureness from his heart through that simple look. The sound of his voice made me feel so protected, I never wanted to stop listening to him. My heart started pumping really fast all of a sudden, all the worries I felt before disappeared and because of that, I was starting to feel different about Ferb. It was a good different, though. A veeery good different…"

_She got out of trance after seeing him checking her ankle for a few seconds, "Don't worry, Ferb. I-It's alright, it doesn't hurt that much." She said and tried to stand up, but the pain threw her back to the floor._

_Ferb scratched his forehead, then he snapped his fingers and took out a little metallic cube from his pocket. He threw the cube to the air and out of nowhere, it transformed into an improved Ferbot. The robot took the bag from the floor and from Ferb's hand, afterwards it started walking away from them. Gretchen, who was still on the ground, had her eyes wide open impressed on the recent event. Her glance then focused on the British boy, who was offering his hand to pull her up. When they were face to face, they shared a sympathetic smile, then he placed her whole arm on the back of his head, he placed his on her waist and step by step they carefully went back to his backyard._

_***End of flashback***_

Perry widened his eyes and looked down, finally putting up together the pieces of her story.

Gretchen laughed shyly while putting her hair on the back of her ear, "I fell in love with him…can you imagine? The boy I feared the most, was most likely the love of my life. Unlike Isabella, I was a little more reserved on showing my interest for Ferb when we were kids. I kept trying to be his closest female friend and I think I succeeded…but I always wanted to be more than that…", she looked at the Alter Ego-Inator and so did Perry, "That's why I really hope this works, Isabella told me that Ferb already likes me but if I want to be the perfect girl for him I have to do something." Then she turned to Perry and she continued scratching his back, "I'm sorry for dragging you into my problems, Perry, but I have to admit that you are a good listener…Thank you."

He couldn't help to feel sorry for Gretchen, he could hear the despair itself in every word coming out of her mouth. After thinking well her plan, he felt stuck in a dead end street between the good and bad things of it. On one side there was the sweet girl next to him who had such beautiful feelings for one of his owners, willing to do absolutely anything for her loved one, but on the other side he didn't think it was the right thing to risk her entire personality just to get someone's attention, especially if that someone was Ferb. Nevertheless, he really wished for the best regarding Gretchen, no matter if her plan worked or not.

* * *

After eating, Ferb took Vanessa everywhere she wanted to go. Time never went so fast for both of them, the hours almost felt like minutes when they spent them together. They stopped by all of her favorite places in the city: a rock and roll themed cafeteria, the music store and the contemporary art museum. One of the things Vanessa liked the most about him was that no matter where she wanted to go, he always replied with a smile on his face and he enjoyed it just as much as her, which surprised her every time. Definitely there were many things she still didn't know about the gorgeous British boy, but she was finally willing to open her eyes enough to see what Ferb had prepared for them. When the sun went down, she offered to end their date by going to a famous Carnival that was visiting town. They got on the roller coaster and the wheel of fortune, he bought her cotton candy and took her to the carnival booths. They played all types of games, she went crazy after losing at the Dime pitch game and he won 5 teddy bears in a row on the crossbow shoot game just to make her feel better. They deeply thought there was nothing that could make their day more perfect. Before leaving the carnival, he thought it would be nice to stop by another stand so he could check on something. It didn't last long before Vanessa started screaming and running towards the car.

"That was the most terrifying thing I've seen in my entire life." She said while covering her face with her hands.

Ferb said nothing, he just smiled and tried to hold his laugh while driving.

"How could they have those monsters in a place like that?! I mean, it's a Carnival! Little kids go there, for God sake! They should definitely take that horrible house of terror down before someone gets a heart attack." She cried.

He snorted and laughed quietly.

She glared at him, "I'm sorry, what's so funny?"

"Well, apparently your descriptions of 'monster' and 'house of terror' is quite different than mine."

"Ferb…" she elevated her tone.

"With the understanding that you are free to call them the way it suits you the best," he continued, "to me your 'house of terror' was most likely the Carnival's house of reptiles. In addition, I'm afraid that what you saw there was not exactly a monster, it was a lizard."

"Okay! I get it! But still, those things could eat someone's face, they're dangerous."

"Vanessa, lizards are harmless creatures. Besides, there was clearly a crystal between you and-"

"Are you done making fun of me?" she said and crossed her arms.

He sighed and stretched his arm to reach one of her hands, "Forgive me, if I had known I never would've taken you there."

"No, no, Ferb, it's alright. We've gone to all my favorite places during the day, the least I could do is go with you to the house of reptiles." She squeezed his hand after sharing a smile with him, "I wasn't even that scared."

"You were screaming for three whole minutes."

"OKAY STOP IT!" she yelled then sighed, "Why were you so interested in seeing reptiles in the first place?"

He turned a corner and continue driving, when she asked her question he unconsciously smiled. "More curious than interested, I would say. You see, when Phineas and I were kids we had a pet named Steve, he was a small chameleon."

"Another pet besides Perry?" she asked.

"Yes, but we actually adopted Perry at an animal shelter. We found Steve in our back-" he suddenly stopped talking, his eyes were no longer paying attention to the road.

Vanessa stared at him with no idea of what was happening, she saw his eyes were stuck at something but wasn't very sure at what. She then saw Ferb twisting the steering wheel and without even blinking, he parked in front of a random house. She frowned, "Uh, Ferb, what happened? Why did you pull over?"

He finally stopped staring at the house, he smiled and turned to Vanessa, "This is my parent's house, or rather, the house I grew up in."

"Oh yeah," she peered through her window and stared at the backyard, "I remember came here a long time ago after hearing that some kids created something called 'S'Winter', it totally makes sense now."

They got out the car and made their way to the backyard. She managed to see that there were no lights on inside the house and wondered if there was someone still living at the house, but after noticing that the house didn't look so much like an abandoned one and also realizing about what time it was, she thought his parents might be sleeping. Although she knew it was Ferb's house and that it was probably no big deal if she went in with him, she couldn't help to feel like a robber breaking into someone's house. She didn't make it look so obvious anyway, in her defense she knew it was his idea to walk into the backyard.

"We shouldn't be here, Ferb. Your parents are probably sleeping and we can get in troubles if the neighbors think we're doing something inappropriate."

He didn't answer, instead he gave a few steps forward until he got to the middle of the backyard, right in front of the old big tree. He placed a hand on it and closed his eyes to let his mind travel within his memories. He remembered every single moment of every day of summer he spent with his brother and friends right at that spot, where the imagination had no limits. Sitting under that tree was his favorite part of the day, at that point he knew they were going to come up with something incredibly amazing to create. It was under that tree where he and Phineas promised to always try to make every day the best day ever. He opened his eyes and sat down, he took a deep breath and felt like he went back in time just to hear the first _"I know what we're going to do today!" _his brother said to him.

She got closer to him and saw him carefully, she found the way to understand what he was feeling and simply smiled at him. "You seem to have strong feelings for this place." She said.

"I can only describe it with one word, 'Home'"

"Hey, if you liked being here so much, why did you guys move out?"

He stood up and looked up to see the window from Candace's old room. "The memories I have from this backyard not only include Phineas, but also my sister."

"I thought she disliked your daily inventions."

"Candace is a very obstinate person, every summer she tried really hard to tell our mother about what we were doing but she never could. However, that was never enough reason for her to stop trying. She did use to say that she disliked our creations, or at least she acted like she did. The truth is, us building all kinds of things and she trying to bust us became our fraternal tradition, which would end when any of us had to leave the house. When Candace got engaged, we decided we didn't want to have any other memorable day at this house if our sister wasn't going to be part of it, so we opted to move out whenever she did." He said.

Vanessa walked over to him and threw her arms around his neck to kiss his lips. After a few seconds, she added, "I know she's your step-sister, but the way you talk about her makes me see how much you love her."

"Well, that is because I never bothered to see Phineas and Candace as my step-siblings. We are family, to me that is the important thing." He smiled.

"And I'm sure they feel the same way you do." She smiled back and held his hand, "Come on, let's go, there's one last place I'd like to go."

He nodded and walked over to the fence gate.

Before she started following him, she saw through the glass door a little empty pet bed right next to a bowl with Perry's name on it. She frowned confused, "Hey, look."

Ferb turned his head, his eyes followed her finger just to notice that his platypus wasn't sleeping, which also meant he wasn't in the house either.

"Where's Perry?" she asked.

* * *

"IT'S DONE!"

Gretchen, who was napping resting her head on one of her hands, and Perry, who was also sleeping on her lap, jumped scared after hearing Dr. Doofenshmirtz yell at the other side of the room. It took her five seconds to be fully awake to realize that her last resource was already done for her to try it. Perry just yawned and watched her getting up from the couch and walking towards Doof.

"Is it done!?" she asked excited, "the Alter Ego-Inator, is it done?"

Doof turned around with a bowl on his hands, "Oh no, I-I was talking about the soup I made. Do you want some?"

"Wait Dr., what about the inator?"

"It's over there, I finished it an hour ago but I didn't want to wake you up, you looked like you really needed a-"

"Um Dr. Doofenshmirtz," she interrupted after facepalming, "can we please try the inator now? It's getting late and I don't want to go home empty-handed."

"Sure thing, come with me." He said.

When they got to the Alter Ego-Inator, Gretchen's heart started pumping really hard and her hands got sweaty, the weird sensation of her stomach just reminded her that there was no turning back, the door of her happiness was about to open and it was now or never. Her gentle eyes got their hope sparkle, the only thing she could think about was the possibility of being caught between the arms of her green-haired beloved.

Doof started pressing some buttons from a little computer to control the giant laser, he moved it so that it could target a small table.

"Like I said before, I will not shoot you with this laser. In fact, this whole machine is not even the real inator, what's really going to let your Alter Ego out is this." He said and showed her a bracelet on his hand.

"This bracelet is the inator?"

"That's right, it takes less time to make and it is way easier to control the effects of an Inator if you make them in a smaller size. Although in this case I could say I did double work since I made the bracelet and this huge machine…meh whatever. I just need to put it over here…" he left the bracelet on the table, then he went back to the computer to activate the laser. The shot hit the table and a bright green light covered the room for a few seconds.

"And that's it. The laser just activated the bracelet, when you put it on it'll take control over you and it'll let your Alter Ego live in this world. The red light of the bracelet will indicate that you're in 'Alter Ego' mode, got it?"

"Got it." she said and quickly took the bracelet from the table. She breathed deeply and carefully placed it on her wrist, but there was no change, everything stayed as normal as always. She freaked out to see that the red light was off, even more when she couldn't feel any difference inside her body.

"No…no, what's happening? There's…There's no red light! You said it was finished!" she cried.

"I-It is finished!" Doof got closer and looked carefully at her wrist, "Look! The bracelet is charged, there's nothing wrong with it."

Tears began to well up in her eyes, "But then…why is it not working with me?"

He sighed and scratched his nape, "The Alter Ego is supposed to be a distinct personality hidden inside someone's mind, it is said that a person that possess this other identity can become a complete different character. The inator is programmed to bring that identity out, not to create one."

"So, what you're saying is…" she murmured.

"I'm so sorry dear, I-I thought I could help you but-"

Gretchen held her tears and walked towards the couch to get her bag, "It's fine Dr. D, I'm the one who's sorry for making you work all day for nothing. Thanks anyway for your help, um…I should probably get going."

"W-Wait, don't you want Perry the Platypus to go with you?" he asked worried.

Perry stood up and followed her until she stopped him with a hand signal.

"Oh, no, don't worry. I'll find my way home."

And with that, she ran to the door and slammed it on her way out.

* * *

"Come on, Ferb! Don't just stand there." She said while walking through a bunch of destroyed cars.

Ferb, who was dumbfounded by Vanessa's decision of driving all the way to the darkest part of the city just to visit Danville's Scrap Yard, was still standing on the sidewalk without moving.

She stopped and turned to meet his eyes, "If you don't come with me, you won't be able to see my little secret."

He finally relented and walked right behind her with no idea of where they were going. When they almost got to one end of the place, she grabbed his hand and showed him a hidden path between two piles of wrecked vehicles that got them in front of the yard's fence. She laughed at Ferb's clueless expression, she could tell by his raised eyebrow that he wasn't sure of what to expect, which she considered perfect for the occasion. She removed two pieces of wood, crossed the fence and waited for the British boy to do so.

"I also have my special place. This is it." she said.

He blinked twice and couldn't believe what he was glancing. For some reason, behind the Scrap Yard there was a cliff with a tree and a bench, from there they were able to see the light of the moon covering the buildings and the inner lights from each and every house of the city.

She sat on the bench and sighed, "Wonderful view, don't you think? It fills me with joy every time I come here."

He nodded and sat next to her.

"This place helps me to think whenever I have to make hard decisions. When I don't know what to do, the breeze and quietness become my best counselors, they remind me that it's very possible that my problems are not as serious as I think they are and that I should do what makes my life much easier. I actually came here when I decided to go to Alaska because, no matter how much I wanted to forget about everything, I wasn't sure if I was prepared to leave my family and friends just on a whim although well, at the end of the day I did leave Danville. I have no regrets at all, yes, I lost some friends but it helped to heal old wounds, and now here I am…" She looked at him in the eyes, "Starting over."

Listening to her sincere words melted his heart, "Vanessa…" he said.

"Yes?"

"Would you mind if I borrow this place for a second?"

"W-What?" she asked confused.

He stood up and walked over to the tree, "I would like to see if it helps me too…"

"Oh well…no, I don't mind." She shrugged, "Go ahead."

In his mind, he kept trying to put his thoughts together. _'Should I?' _he asked himself. There were so many things he wanted to say to her all at once, it was like a train wagon filled with everything he had never said to her. He thought that if he wanted to be completely honest with her, then she deserved to know about how he felt when he first saw her and what he tried to do back when they were at the Eiffel Tower. On the other hand, there was a possibility of her feeling bad for him after knowing the truth, which could be a huge mistake in the process he had made. There was no need to get in so much detail, he figured that letting her know what he wanted for them was the best option, he just needed to find the proper words to say it. He balled his fists to take courage, then crouched in front of her grabbing both of her hands.

"I have been thinking all day about saying this to you, and I have certainly no idea of how you will react but it is important."

"What is it?"

He cleared his throat, "I would like to clear you out that…I'm not playing around with you. Everything I told you yesterday, every single word I said came directly from the bottom of my heart. I can look at you and say to your beautiful face that I will do even the impossible to see you smiling, to see you happy. I'm willing to give you everything I have, everything I am to make sure you never forget what you mean to me. I could do absolutely anything for you, Vanessa."

"Ferb…" she muttered.

"With that said, you should know that I am the kind of person that likes to get things done the way they should so…" his cheeks got bright red, then he added, "Vanessa, would you be my girlfriend?"

Her eyes were filled with tears, "Ferb, I…I…I need to think about it."

He felt a mini heart attack, but tried to stay under control. He gulped, "You do?"

"No, of course not, silly!" she laughed and hugged him throwing herself on top of him. She felt his frozen body lying on the ground with his eyes wide open, so she helped him to straighten up and kissed his nose. "I'd love to be your girlfriend." she whispered.

He blinked a couple of times, then he pinched his arm just like he did the night before to understand that he was finally in a formal relationship with the love of his life. He released the biggest sigh and showed her his infinite happiness with his tight embrace. "Don't scare me like that again."

"Oh, but you should've seen your face, it was priceless."

He pulled back and took her face with his hands, "Please promise me you will stay with me."

"I promise."

* * *

"What's wrong with me? What am I supposed to do now?" she said to herself while walking down the street. "Without the Alter Ego-Inator I have nothing left to try. Why does love have to be so complicated? If Ferb and I like each other, then why is it so hard for us to be together, I mean, girls are supposed to be the ones playing hard to get, not guys. Although maybe it's just him trying to take things slow, or maybe I haven't showed him properly my interest on him…No, I think I can't be more obvious. But then, what's the deal?! Do I have to stand in front of him and tell him that I love him?" She made a pause and looked around to notice she wasn't that far away from Ferb's apartment, "That's it!"

Gretchen turned around the corner of the street and ran all the way to his place. Her feelings were a mix of hope and joy, it was the first time that she felt brave enough to talk about her feelings with her loved one and, after almost losing all faith at Dr. D's house, she really wanted to think that declaring her love once and for all was indeed the last opportunity she had to be happy.

She stopped suddenly two apartments before Ferb's, the whole background went silence and got a grey scale tone. She shook her head and repeatedly said 'No', her eyes were flooded with tears and her legs and arms were shaking. Her shattered soul was reflected on the dead look of her eyes, along with the silhouettes of Ferb and Vanessa, holding each other and kissing passionately on the door. She couldn't move, or even think, she could only hear her heart breaking into millions of pieces.

She shut her eyes and simply left, defeated and with a blinking red light on her bracelet.


	17. Chapter 17

**Hey there! **

**I know, I'm sorry. Please don't hate me :(**

**Tbh I stopped writing the story because of negative reviews. ****And it took me 2 years to realize, 1. There are a lot of haters out there, and 2. This is my story. I might not be the best writer, especially in english, but this story fills me with nothing but joy ^^ Still, for those who think either my english or my story is not good enough, I am very sorry. **

**And for everybody else that loves this story just as much as I do, here's Chapter 17 :D**

**Thank you so much for your patience (I will finish the story, I promise). Please review. Love you :***

* * *

Chapter 17

Her skin never looked so pale, her eyes never lost their redness and tears never ended. No matter how much she tried, her cheeks didn't stop dripping tears. She made her way home with her face down. When she got there she immediately felt the loneliness invading her, for a moment she forgot she was no longer sharing an apartment. She was now on her own, dealing with the worst feeling she had ever felt. For her, it was symbolic. It really didn't matter, she didn't want to be seen the way she looked at that moment. She quickly ran to her room and locked herself in there, she looked around the place without knowing what to do next, she looked herself in the mirror next to her and the only thing she could see was the image of Ferb and Vanessa. The way he was holding her, kissing her, it was so stuck in her head she could still see them. She was losing her mind, the weakness of her legs made her fall to the ground while shutting her eyes, her thoughts were focused on every moment Ferb 'rejected' her in his subtle way to speak. The blinking red light from the bracelet was becoming more solid every time the pain from her heart became stronger. When she couldn't handle it anymore, she let out a big, desperate scream. It was then when the light became solid red.

"This can't be…this can't be happening." Gretchen cried, "Why, Ferb? Why not choosing me? Am I just not enough?", she put one hand on her face as she continued sobbing, "I can't stand seeing you with someone else again, I…I just can't. I can't do it…I don't want to!"

Without noticing, the reflection of her defeated body started moving slowly until it formed the figure of a girl standing up and facing down.

"_Stop crying, Gretchen."_

Gretchen's eyes popped when she heard it, she raised her head and looked at the door to check if someone was standing behind her, but she was wrong. She got on her feet and looked everything around her, she knew there was no one home, besides there was no way for someone to be in her room since the door was locked.

"_Gretchen."_

She jumped scared and turned around just to find her reflection on the mirror. She gave a step forward to get closer, but when she didn't see the figure moving like she did, she screamed and fell to the ground shaking. She took her glasses off and wiped her eyes, "This is not real, it's all in my head." She said.

"_I can assure you I am real."_

She looked back at the mirror, the 'Gretchen' reflected on it was still standing in front of her. The girl looked exactly like her, she had the glasses, the clothes, the hair, everything, however, she had a gloomy face and her iris was darker. She stood up and carefully walked over to the mirror, she waved her hands to see if her reflection responded to her moves but it didn't. She blinked twice and examined the figure before her.

"I am definitely hallucinating" she said.

"_You're not hallucinating, Gretchen." _

"My mirror can't be talking to me, it's impossible."

'"_True. Mirrors are objects, objects don't talk, but this is not the mirror talking."_

"Then…what are you?" she asked, giving a step back.

"_I…am Alter-Gretchen."_

She gasped.

"W-What? No…no you can't be, Dr. Doofenshmirtz said-"

"_Why don't you give a second look to the bracelet?"_

Gretchen frowned and dared to look down. She had totally forgotten about the inator hanging on her wrist. She raised her hand and almost couldn't believe what her eyes were seeing. Her heart started pumping really fast when she saw the bright red light.

"Oh my God, this means…w-what happened?! The bracelet didn't work back at Dr. D's lab, what's going on?!"

Alter-Gretchen sighed, _"I'm aware that you thought I didn't exist since the light was off after putting the bracelet on. Everybody has an Alter-Ego, Gretchen, but they're not all the same. There are some people that have their Alter-Egos hidden way deep inside their minds, in those cases there must be a very convincible reason for the alternate personality to leave its hideout. We have to watch every single thing the person does to know the right moment to show up. As your Alter-Ego, I had no problem with the way you were handling your emotions and actions, I also didn't consider Heinz's inator enough for me to make a move. But then, I heard it."_

"You heard what?"

"_I heard your heart break, and I also saw what caused it."_

Even that she was having issues believing everything she heard from Alter-Gretchen, her last statement made her forget about everything and brought the horrible memory of the couple's love scene back to her head. Once again her eyes filled up with tears.

"_Oh no, it's okay, Gretchen. Don't cry, you have to be strong."_

"I lost him." she mumbled.

"_No, Gretchen. You may have lost one battle, but not the war. We can still gain Ferb's love but we need to keep fighting."_

She glared at Alter-Gretchen, "Keep fighting? KEEP FIGHTING?! Have you not seen how I've been fighting for all these years? And for what!? For nothing!"

"_So is that it? We're just going to give up and let her take what we deserve?"_

"What choice do I have?"

"_Gretchen, I know how you're feeling, but you can't stay crying for the rest of your life when there's still chance. Let me take it from here."_

"What?" She said calmly, her angry expression faded.

"_Remember what Isabella said? You've tried to get his attention by using the same strategy, even knowing it wasn't working well. She said 'try something else'. Well then, let me take your place. I can try to be that girl you want to be for him, you just have to let me out."_

Gretchen thought for a moment. The idea of using Dr. D's inator in the first place was in deed to try something different, in her head she imagined her life as a whole new Gretchen with a bunch of new qualities. Maybe a little late, but the opportunity needed was now standing right in front of her. Although she wasn't quite sure of how it could work, it was true that she could still give it one last try to finally be happy with the guy she loved. Yet, she couldn't help feeling self-distrust about the situation. She thought of all the pros and cons of letting Alter-Gretchen out of her head, she could be very helpful yet dangerous at the same time.

She crossed her arms, "Can I trust you?"

Alter-Gretchen laughed, _"That depends. Do you trust yourself?"_

"But what are you planning to do?"

"_I can't tell you, but I swear I'll do anything in my hands to get what we've always wanted."_

"Are you going to hurt someone?" she asked worried.

"_Would you?"_

She shook her head.

"_If someone gets hurts, and by that I mean emotionally, it'll not be us. I promise."_

"I-I don't know." She started rubbing her arms in sign of concern. She was no longer crying, she was way more relaxed than before but being talking with her alternative personality was not making her entirely happy.

"_Gretchen, do you love him?"_

Her eyes closed, every moment she spend with Ferb popped up in her head. The way she looked at her when they were kids, the deepness of his voice saying her name every time she greeted him in school, the strong blue color of his eyes when he concentrated on his classes or inventions, the tiny smile his perfect lips formed showing kindness and respect. Thinking about Ferb Fletcher had a real impact on her, her cheeks were highly blushed and she sighed a couple of times. "More than anything." She answered.

"_Then let me take it from here." _The reflection raised her hand, she placed her palm against the mirror, implying Gretchen should do the same. "_I know you want to feel what it's like to be kissed by a man like Ferb, to be held by his arms and to feel him closer than ever. Come on, Gretchen. I promise everything will be fine."_

She took a few steps forward and stood inches away from the mirror, she carefully raised her shaking arm and opened her hand, her breathing was agitated. She shut her eyes and gulped, then she took a deep breath and in one move, she placed her hand on the crystal right where the other hand was. Within seconds, a bright flashing light surrounded her, it was so astonishing that the impact of the light with her eyes made her fall unconscious. When Gretchen opened her eyes, she put a hand on her head trying to wake up fully after being hit by something she didn't quite remember. She found herself in a dark room where there were no walls, in fact the room looked endless. She looked around scared and wondering where she was until she found a big square on one side, showing the way to another room. She walked over to it and as she got closer, she realized it was actually her room on the other side of that square, where she could see the back of another Gretchen right in the middle of it. She tried to get it, but a crystal was now dividing that empty room from her life. It took her time to remember her conversation with Alter-Gretchen and to realize that she was now inside the mirror. She confirmed it when the Gretchen from the room turned around, she met her eyes and saw the dark blue pupils of the girl standing before her, it was in deed the hidden alternative personality taking her place in the real world.

She desperately hit the crystal with her fists, _"What is this?! What did you do?! Let me out!"_

"Relax," Alt-Gretchen said with a small smile on her face, "We changed places, that's all."

"_No…I don't want to be here!"_

"You'll get used to it." she said and looked at her new body, she touched her face and hips to make sure she was real, then she looked through the window and saw the bright moon in the sky. The more she realized she was now controlling Gretchen, her smile widened and her eyes showed more an evil look than a sweet one. She turned to see the scared look on Gretchen's face from the mirror, "We're doing things my way from now on." She said then released sort of a maniacal laugh.

* * *

_***knock* *knock* *knock***_

"Phineas?" Isabella said after slightly opening the door.

She saw her wonderful boyfriend sitting at his desk, working on projects as usual. When they were kids, Isabella had a problem with the obsessive way he focused on his projects, Phineas was always too busy to notice her o her insinuations, which really annoyed her. She sure mentioned it right after they started dating and almost couldn't believe it when she saw his reaction, he looked so ashamed for being so inconsiderate. He promised he would keep his projects and home works apart from their relationship and to give her his undivided attention whenever they were together. Although he did get between the two things once or twice, he always found the way to make it up to her. Isabella knew things were going to change the moment they started living together, she was going to be with him all the time and obviously she would have to give him his own space for his personal duties.

"Hi honey! Haha, I'll definitely dream with calculus after finishing this assignment." He laughed then turned to meet Isabella, "Is dinner ready?"

She sighed and went in with a tray on her hands, on it there were a glass of milk and a sandwich, "It was ready an hour ago." She laughed.

"Oh boy, I'm sorry Isabella. I totally forgot, I was just-"

"Don't worry, Phineas. I know you are busy." She smiled and walked over to the desk, she moved his laptop and put the tray right next to him, "But right now it's too late for you to eat something heavy, so I brought you this."

He smiled, "Thanks beautiful."

She kissed his forehead and walked away to sit on his bed. She started gathering the scattered books next to her and put them inside his backpack, then she noticed Phineas' favorite notebook was missing. "Hey, where's your sketchbook?"

"Ferb has it, he wanted to check the modifications on Vanessa's room." He said.

"Oh…wait, he's actually planning on doing them?"

"Apparently yes, I'll help him tomorrow. You know, he seemed really affected last night, I don't quite understand how he was so calmed this morning."

Isabella raised an eyebrow, "Huh…Do you think Vanessa will stay at the apartment?"

"I don't think so, I mean if I was the guy I wouldn't like it if my girlfriend was living with some other guy. Yes, it might hurt Ferb, but there's nothing he can do about it."

"I guess that's true but, why are you guys going to fix her room if she's not going to live there anyway?"

"Mmh, not sure, but Ferb is the kind of guy that doesn't like to leave things half done so, I'm going with that." He said and started eating his sandwich.

Isabella looked down as she remembered Ferb's reaction from the night before, few seconds later her expression suddenly changed. She looked up excited, "Phineas, what if this was meant to happen?"

He turned his head and gave her a curious gaze, his mouth was full and chewing.

"I mean, maybe Ferb and Vanessa are simply not meant for each other. Maybe this had to happen so he could finally have closure about this crush on her and try going out with someone else, you know, like Gretchen! This could be Gretchen's call!" she said.

His eyes widened, he swallowed his food right away and stood up, "Whoa, whoa, slow down dear. I don't think that's how it works."

"But, why not? It's perfe-"

"Isabella," he interrupted, "I know you have been trying to help your friend, but just because Vanessa is not available for Ferb doesn't mean he is now available for Gretchen. Vanessa might have a boyfriend but, you heard him, he is still 'madly' in love with her. You can't stop loving someone from one day to another."

"Well, yeah but-"

Phineas sat next to her and grabbed her hands, "If you tell Gretchen what happened she might get excited for nothing, and she'll get hurt again."

"You don't know that." She said in a harsh tone, "It doesn't have to be like that."

"Honey, every time she tries something with Ferb, he rejects her. We both know that. Why would this time be any different? Think about it, he's been saying 'no' to Gretchen ever since she started asking, and Vanessa has only been around for like, a week. At least to me, it could end up like it always does."

Isabella said nothing, then he continued, "I think maybe it's time for you to stay out of this whole Gretchen situation, if some time in the future something happens between them, it'll be settled only by the two of them."

She met his eyes, "Are you saying I should stop intervening in my friend's life?"

"I'm just saying she's old enough to do things by herself."

She sighed sadly, as much as she wanted to get offended, her boyfriend had a point.

Phineas tipped her chin and made her look up, "Promise me you won't say anything."

"Alright, I promise."

"Good," he said, "Now, can we please have a moment just for ourselves?"

She smiled then hugged the red-haired boy and pushed him down so they could cuddle in the bed, "I'd love to."

He hugged her back and let her head rest on his chest, "Why is it so hard for everyone to be with the one they love? We should feel lucky, we didn't have that much difficulties."

"Ha! Maybe you didn't. You have no idea how hard it was for me to make you understand all the signs I was giving."

"That was then, okay? I was just a boy, Isabella, my attention was focused on different things."

"I know, sweetie. But you know," she lowered her voice, she moved her hand right to the end of his shirt and her fingers started flirtatiously playing with it while she spoke, little by little her hand was caressing his bare belly, "sometimes it's still really hard to make you catch my-"

She stopped talking. In a rough movement, Phineas sat up straight and turned his head to look at his girlfriend. Isabella looked at him in a curious way, she saw a grin drawn on his face and even though she had no clue why he was smiling, she didn't say a word. He leaned over to get his face closer to hers, she immediately closed her eyes with the thought of him about to kiss her, but she snapped out of it when she felt her boyfriend's head on her neck. The sensation of him being at that spot of her body could have made her legs feel like noodles like always, but she was more concentrated on figuring out what he was doing. He started smelling her neck and after a few seconds, he let out a little chuckle and then got his face right in front of hers.

"Do you want to know something I've noticed about you?"

"Uh-huh"

"You possess a great variety of perfumes, each of them for different occasions." he said while pressing something on his watch to lower the lights of the room, without losing eye contact.

She stared at him surprised. She noticed Phineas was moving slowly his entire body towards her so that he was almost on top of her, which was raising her heartbeat and reddening her cheeks. When he got there, he trapped her by putting his arms on each side of her head. He was so confident about every move he made that she almost couldn't recognize him, she just locked her eyes on his and waited for him to speak again.

"I might not know which perfume matches each occasion, but I do know you have one specific fragrance that you use on a 'special occasion' that involves me." He said while raising an eyebrow, "I noticed it this morning, but I wanted to confirm."

Isabella thought for a moment. She remembered the day she first spent the night with Phineas, she worked so hard make it an unforgettable moment that she cared about all the details. One of them was in deed the perfume she bought specifically for that night, she tried it once at the mall while they were on a date and knew right away he loved it on her. That night, Phineas couldn't stop saying how good she smelled, among other things, so she decided to wear that perfume only for those intimate moments with her boyfriend. Nevertheless, she wasn't actually trying to insinuate anything for that day. Earlier that day she noticed the 'daily' perfume bottle was empty and she wore the first perfume she saw without seeing which one it was. It was a happy accident. She wanted to explain, but at the same time she wasn't dumb enough to ruin the mood. He proved her wrong about not noticing the little things she made for him and that was enough for her to let him do whatever he wanted. Instead, she gave him a flirty look and smile.

"Oh cool, so I got it right?"

She rolled her eyes, then took his face and pressed her lips against his. He finally turned the lights completely off with his watch as he drew his way to her neck with tender kisses. Isabella was responding to him, hypnotized by the unconditional love he was transmitting with his lips slightly touching her skin, until she suddenly tried to control herself and spoke.

"Phineas, honey."

"Yes?"

"I'd love to spend the night here but we won't fit here." She said, referring to the twin size bed he had in his room.

"Oh, that's not a problem."

Phineas moved his hand to the back of the bed and pressed what it looked like a secret button, afterwards the furniture from each side of the bed started moving away from the bed to make some space around them. The mattress then started somehow stretching to become bigger, after a few seconds it became a king size bed. Her eyes couldn't be more open, she looked around and tried to assimilate what she had just experienced.

"Um, since when can your bed do this?" she asked.

"I, um…" he cleared his throat, "installed it the day I got here, not important. Now, where were we?"

"Wait! I have the perfect outfit for this, let me go put it on."

"Really Izzy?"

"I'll be back in a minute, I promise. You're gonna love it."

She stood up and ran to her room. Before leaving, she noticed the screen of her cellphone was blinking, on it there were a couple notifications indicating missed calls and messages. All of them were coming from an _'__**Unknown number**__'. _As her best friend she knew right away the calls and messages were from Gretchen, but she couldn't help to worry about her given to the insistence in contacting her. She opened the first message.

_***It's me, Isabella. I need your help, can you please…* -Unknown Number**_

She read the rest of the messages and thought immediately on what she promised Phineas minutes ago. She had never lied to him, neither broken a promise before, but promising to stay out of Gretchen's frustrated love life didn't mean she had to ignore her friend any other time she needed advice or her help. She was technically not breaking her promise, either way she preferred to keep it as a secret just to avoid having misunderstandings with her boyfriend. She quickly replied and left the phone back on her bed before walking out the room.

* * *

The next morning, Ferb offered to pick Isabella and Phineas up and drive them to school. It was easier for him to give Izzy a ride back home and take Phineas with him so they could work on Vanessa's room, that way they could easily move from there in case they needed to. After his last class, Ferb stopped by his brother's locker and found him putting some books inside. By seeing Phineas' face, he could tell he was tired, his face looked sleepy and he kept rubbing his eyes, but Ferb knew him so much that he supposed he probably worked on projects the entire night without noticing, which happened quite often when they lived together. He greeted Phineas by patting his shoulder.

The red-haired boy turned around and received him with a big smile, "Hey, bro! How you do-" he stopped suddenly to yawn.

Ferb raised an eyebrow.

"Sorry," he laughed, "I'm just a little tired, that's all. At least that horrible 'No Days-off Week' finally ended, it should be illegal to make us come to school on weekends just because the Mayor says so. With all due respect, it's the most ridiculous idea he has ever had. If he ever tries to make me come to school on summer, I swear I'll-"

"Hey guys!" Isabella interrupted with a charming smile on her face.

"Hi gorgeous, ready to go?"

"Not yet, I have a…um, meeting in a few minutes so, could you please wait for me in the car?"

"Sure!" Phineas said, Ferb gave her a thumbs up.

After she walked away from them, Phineas kept talking and finished putting away his stuff while Ferb was checking up his cellphone. He spent the entire morning trying to send Vanessa a text message but he never did, every time he wrote one, he thought of her being busy at work and being interrupted for no reason. Waiting for Phineas, he opened up his messages with the intention to finally do it, but something else caught his attention. It was the mysterious message he got from 'Unknown'.

"Anyways, I'll have the chance to get some rest this weekend. I can't be tired today, we have work to do. Oh! I need to check something from my sketchbook, do you have it with you?"

He looked up and took the sketchbook out of his backpack. When he handed it to Phineas, out of all the people around them, he saw Gretchen walking at the end of the hallway. He focused on her and thought of the message he had just seen on his phone, he also remembered she started acting different and apparently not only with him but with everyone, taking as a reference the fact that she missed practice with her friends. If she was having a rough time or problems of any kind, he wanted to know. After all, she was his friend and he cared about her well-being. He excused himself and followed her way as quick as he could, he turned into a corner of the hall and searched for her through the crowd but couldn't find her. He looked for her until the people started spreading around and clearing the hall, seconds after he saw Gretchen coming out of a teacher's office with a very serious face.

Ferb hurried to reach her, "Gretchen"

She stopped.

He saw she took a deep breath and gently turned around. When she did, he noticed she looked a bit different than he remembered, he looked into her eyes and swore they looked darker than usual, also she wasn't standing in the submissive way she always did. At any other moment he could think there was definitely something strange about the Gretchen standing before him, but given that she received him with a smile and also there was such low light surrounding them, he simply ignored it.

"Hi Ferb," She said, "How have you been?"

He nodded.

"What a coincidence, I was just thinking about you." She slightly passed her finger on his nose, "I must inform you that I won't be cursing Advanced Physics with you anymore, I took Professor Hoffman's offer to go to Germany and work on a Physics' project and well, I'm on my way to the airport."

"Oh," he said, "good for you."

She took a step forward, "Will you miss me?"

"Um," He raised his eyebrows, "yes, of course."

"Good," she said and turned around, "I should go now. Bye Ferb."

As she was walking away, he froze surprised on Gretchen's sudden attitude, she talked to him with such self-confidence that she even flirted with him, something she had never done before. He shook his head and took his phone out, then called her once again.

"Gretchen."

She turned her head, "Yes, Ferb?"

He showed her his phone, "By any chance, is this from you?"

She saw the screen and her expression changed, when she felt her chest getting warm and her heart beating increasingly fast, she shut her eyes and did her best to calm down. She knew that those uncontrolled feelings where caused by the Gretchen trapped on her head, and she was definitely not going to let her ruin her plan.

"Yes, I sent that text but I decided not to call you. Since you always say you're busy every time I want to talk to you, or go out with you, I assumed you were going to give me that excuse again. I didn't want to bother you."

He sighed and said nothing.

"But it was nothing. Don't worry about it." She said and finally walked her way out of the building.

Ferb looked down, he felt bad of how Gretchen implied that he was avoiding her all the time. He intended to apologize, but he couldn't find the right words on time. Before he could even think of saying a word, she was already closing the exit door, almost as if she was running away from him. If she was mad at him, Ferb knew she had her reasons, but now he would have to wait until she's back from her trip to have a proper talk with her and finally put the cards on the table. If trying to do the best not to hurt her was making things worse, then he'll have no choice but to speak with the truth about his true feelings for Vanessa.

* * *

Alt-Gretchen went directly to the back of the building, where she saw Isabella waiting for her and holding a piece of paper with her hands.

"Gretchen! Hi! For a moment I thought you wouldn't show up." She laughed.

"I had to deal with something on my way here. Did you bring it?"

Her smile faded, "Y-Yeah, um…Are you okay? You missed practice yesterday and-"

"Yes, I'm fine."

"Oh, okay. Here," she gave her the paper, "You'll find her phone number, e-mail and address in that paper. Why did you need to contact-"

"Are you sure this is still her phone number?"

"Well, she gave it to me before she moved out of town."

"Perfect, can I ask you something else?" Alt-Gretchen asked.

"Sure, girl. Anything."

"I'd like you to keep this only between the two of us. You can't tell anyone about this, not even Phineas."

She smiled, "Of course, Gretchen."

"I knew I could count on you, you're the greatest friend."

And with that, Alt-Gretchen walked away. Isabella felt like the worst friend in the whole world. She knew Gretchen would love to know that Ferb was finally free for her to make her move, but she had promised Phineas she wouldn't say a word. She couldn't accept Gretchen's compliment if she was hiding something incredibly important, at least for her. She thought for a moment, if she was going to keep that meeting as a secret, maybe mentioning what she knew about Ferb could be a secret too.

She bit her lip, then ran directly to Alt-Gretchen and stood in front of her, "Wait, Gretchen! There's something you should probably know."

Alt-Gretchen blinked twice, "Alright."

"I can't give you all the details but, this might be the right time for you to do something to be with Ferb. Trust me, this is the opportunity you've been looking for."

Her brows furrowed, she didn't quite understand why Isabella was telling her to try to get Ferb's love the day after she saw him kissing someone else, but she figured that maybe Isabella was not aware of Ferb's relationship like she was. She gave her a small smile, "Don't worry, I'm already working on that."

* * *

They waited for only a few minutes until Isabella met them at the parking lot, Ferb drove to Isabella's place to leave her there before heading back home. On their way, Phineas explained every single detail of the sketch he made for Vanessa's room, he talked without stopping like he always did. Fortunately there was no problem with Ferb and Isabella, there were so used to spend time with the chatty red haired fellow that it was a simple regular day for both of them.

"And we're going to need the midget trowel, you have it right?" Phineas asked.

Ferb nodded.

"Do we still have cement mix? Because if we don't, we'll have to buy some."

He nodded again.

"Great! Then we're ready to get things started."

The car pulled over in front of Phineas and Isabella's apartment, "Relax!" Isabella said, "You always are, this is nothing compared on what you guys do.", she jumped from the back seat and kissed her boyfriend's cheek before leaving the vehicle, "Love you guys, see ya."

They waved at her, Phineas kept staring at her until she walked through the front door, then he sighed, "Look at me, bro. I'm the luckiest guy on earth. Ain't she beautiful?"

Ferb started the engines and continued driving, "There was clearly a bit of difference on Isabella's semblance today."

"What do you mean?"

"She had a new twinkle in her eyes and she looked happier. But of course, you must already know the reason."

Phineas panicked all of a sudden, a few sweat drops were already covering his forehead and his cheeks were turning red. After he became official with Isabella, he had to go through a very long talk about what couple's privacy meant and what she was really expecting from him as a boyfriend. At first he had a lot of complications figuring out what he could share or not about their relationship, especially with Ferb, who was typically the first person to know everything new about Phineas' life. It was a rough time for him, but at the end he learned to keep his mouth shut when it came to be something related to his girlfriend. However, sometimes there was no need of saying a word for Ferb to know what was up, he knew exactly what Phineas was going through just by looking at him.

He nervously raised his voice, "Why would you say that?! I don't know what you're talking about, I know nothing, why should I know?!"

Ferb gave him a startled gaze.

"How do you do it?! How is it that you always know exactly what-, No wait, did she tell you?" he said while hyperventilating, "No, of course she didn't. She wouldn't do it, she wouldn't even have to bother in telling you. Seriously, I have no clue on how you always guess what happens between me and Isabella, and I'm sorry I didn't tell you but you have to understand that it is our personal private business. It's nothing against you, it is just couple's privacy. Anyways, now that it is no longer a secret, I'll say it. The reason why she looked prettier and happier today is because we spent the night together, yes, we spent the night together, okay?! It's no big deal, we're a couple, couples do that. And you know what? Isabella nags me all the time to be careful on what I say and she doesn't care whatsoever about discretion when it comes to this, have you ever noticed that sometimes she gets me cupcakes out of nowhere? Ha! ...Now that I think of it, she didn't get me anything today, maybe she's baking them right now…You see?! She's the one telling the world about our relationship! …Which doesn't make sense since I'm the one saying it right now. Whatever. The point here is, if you were wondering if I had something to do with the new twinkle in her eyes, well then congratulations. You got it right."

He crossed his arms and turned his embarrassed face to his window, trying to hide his head in between his shoulders.

Ferb gave his brother a moment to calm down, then he cleared his throat and opened his mouth to speak, "Actually, I was referring to Isabella's recent cheerleading award."

The blush on his face disappeared right at the end of the sentence, his eyes were wide open, "What?!"

"I heard she received an award for her excellent leadership skills."

"I…I didn't know that. She hasn't told me about it."

"Well, I assumed that as her boyfriend, you would be the first one to know."

Phineas was having troubles to fully understand what he was listening. When Ferb saw the blank expression on his face, he continued, "As I was saying, I definitely related her glowing face from today with said achievement. However, now that you have let me know what the real reason is, I understand how mistaken I was. So, thank you for the clarification."

Then it hit him. His pupils shrank and even more sweat drops were falling down from his head, he realized that thanks to his non-stopping way of speaking and lack of conscious on the situation, he ended up digging his own grave. With a bright red blush all over his face, he wished to be an ostrich so he could hide his head on the ground and just forget about everything. Instead, he leaned over to hit his head on the dashboard, he stayed on that position for a few seconds trying to hide his embarrassment as much as possible.

Ferb grinned, then after those seconds, he added, "…So that is why you adjusted your bed."

"JUST DRIVE, FERB."

He was now smiling widely trying not to laugh too hard at that point. He stopped bugging on Phineas and remained silent the rest of the way.

When they got to the apartment, Phineas took his sketchbook out and indicated Ferb to get the tools they needed, he went upstairs and made his way to his old room. He looked at it carefully and realized the room was exactly the way he left it last time, it was an empty room with no traces of anyone living in it. He figured that Vanessa's things never made it to that room and neither did she, confirming that she ended up rejecting Ferb's invitation. The image of his brother's breakdown popped up on his head and he couldn't help to worry, he knew how much Vanessa meant to Ferb and even if he was handling the situation in a better mood, it wouldn't be comprehensible if he suddenly felt sad and lonely.

He snapped out of his thoughts and began moving the bed to clear the work area, the British boy joined the room moments after with the material and they started working. On the process, Ferb noticed that Phineas was awfully quiet, which was absolutely rare coming from him. He caught him staring at certain parts of the room for minutes then go back to work a couple of times, he could tell something was going on in that red head of his but couldn't figure out what exactly. When Phineas calmly offered himself to go get more water for the mix, he spoke.

"Phineas."

He stopped and turned around, "Yes?" he said. He saw the curious yet worried face on Ferb's face, "What? Is something wrong?"

Ferb shrugged.

"Oh, I'm fine bro. I'm sorry, I guess I've been very distracted since we got here, but I'm fine."

Of course, Ferb knew he was lying. But he also knew his brother so well and it was just a matter of time for him to finally share what he was thinking about. He nodded and got his gaze back to the window, he waited a few seconds waiting to hear Phineas' steps indicating he was leaving the room, but it never happened.

"Ferb…"

He smiled.

"Hey um, listen. I really admire how strong you're being with all this, but I know this might be hard for you to deal with. You know, working on the room where…Vanessa was supposed to stay."

He sighed, still smiling, and kept listening.

"And to be honest, I feel bad for leaving you 'alone' while going through this. So I was thinking, I could talk to Isabella and come back here. I'm sure she won't have a problem."

Ferb finally turned to meet his brother's eyes. "Well, Phineas, that is very kind and thoughtful of you. I really appreciate it."

Phineas smiled, "Don't even mention it."

"Oh but I have to. You see, I would love to have you back, you know the doors from this apartment will always be open for you. Unfortunately, there are not enough rooms for you to stay because I do have a roommate."

He blinked surprised, "You do?"

Ferb nodded.

"Wow, I…that's great dude. I never imagined you could find a new roommate that quick, who will you live with?"

Before he could answer, they heard the noise of the front door closing. They looked at each other wondering what was going on until a feminine voice started calling from downstairs. "Ferb? Ferb are you home?"

Phineas shook his head baffled, "What?" he murmured and looked over to the room's door, within seconds Vanessa's silhouette showed up. Ferb's eyes sparkled on her presence, hypnotized by the sound of her voice calling his name and astonished with the immense beauty she possessed.

"Here you are!" she said.

"Vanessa?"

"Hi Phineas, it's good to see you again."

"It's…good to see you too, um," he said raising one eyebrow, "What are you doing here?"

Ferb clicked his tongue and hit him with his shoulder as a sign of him being rude with that question.

"Ow! I mean, I thought you'd be at work or something."

"I was! I'm at my lunch time actually, it's just that I forgot some important documents here and I needed to pick them up." she said and showed the papers from her hands.

Ferb took a few steps forward to get close to her, "You did not have to come all the way here, I would have taken the papers to you if you had called me."

"Yeah, but I knew you'd be busy with Phineas. Besides, I thought that picking them up myself would give me the opportunity to properly say hi instead of having people rushing me."

They shared a smile, Vanessa then looked down at her watch and sighed, "Unfortunately, it took longer than I expected to get here and I'd better get going."

"Do want me to drive you there?" he asked.

"Oh no, it's okay, a coworker drove me here and she's waiting for me outside." She then turned to the red-haired boy, "Phineas, thank you so much for taking the time to do this."

Phineas, who was still perplexed at the whole situation, just nodded. There were so many questions spinning inside his head: What was Vanessa doing there? Why was Ferb so fine with her staying? Was he already over Vanessa?

"Hey, why don't you call your girlfriend Isabella and you guys join us for dinner tonight? You know, in appreciation for what you're doing." She said.

"I uh," he stuttered, "Yeah, sure, I'll call her."

"Great! Alright," She raised her hand and caressed Ferb's arm, "I'll call you later."

Ferb raised his and cupped her cheek, he leaned over and brought her face close to his. She looked directly into his eyes before closing them gently, he did the same as he pressed his lips on hers. Phineas' jaw dropped along with the tool he had on his hand, he couldn't even blink to rectify what he was watching. His brother was kissing Vanessa right in front of him. He had never been more confused in his entire life, how could things between Ferb and Vanessa have taken such a sudden turn in the last few days? He was missing something around there. When the two little lovebirds broke the kiss, Vanessa bade farewell and disappeared from the room, Ferb waved goodbye and watched her leave with loving eyes.

He turned to see Phineas' face and smiled to find on him the expression he was looking for. He pretended there was no explanation needed and simply got back to work on the window. Phineas followed him with his eyes and after seeing him acting completely normal, he spoke.

"Is there anything you'd like to say to me?"

"Do you think the window will look good from outside?" Ferb asked.

Phineas facepalmed, "Don't play dumb with me, bro! Would you explain to me what just happened?"

He turned to him and smiled, "What do you mean?"

"I thought Vanessa never got to live here!"

"Why would you think that? I believe I personally told you she would be staying in this room."

"Yeah but that was before she…because you said…I mean, she…" Phineas babbled, he couldn't complete any sentence due to his growing confusion and Ferb's face of satisfaction wasn't helping at all. "What about her boyfriend, or the guy she kissed the other day?"

Ferb shook his head, "Correction. She didn't kiss him, she was kissed by him. Against her will, if I may add."

"So she doesn't have a boyfriend?"

"Well, up until yesterday, no…she didn't. But now, she does." He said and crossed his arms with a smirk on his face.

At last, it all got together on Phineas' head, his dropped jaw slowly formed a big smile as he was finally understanding, "No way," he exclaimed, "You and Vanessa?"

Ferb laughed softly.

"Oh my God!" he walked over his brother and embraced him, "These are such great news, bro! I'm very happy for you. You better give me all the details after making me go through that, but you can do that later, we need to get back to work!"

"I'll get the water."

Phineas thanked him and pulled out his phone as Ferb was leaving the room, he dialed a number and smiled excited.

_***beep* *beep***_

"Isabella? Hi honey, listen, you are not going to believe this."

* * *

When her shift ended, took a cab and went to the supermarket to pick up some items she needed to cook dinner for their guests, Phineas and Isabella. She spent almost 10 minutes convincing Ferb not to pick her up, she didn't see it necessary to make him loose his time when she could go perfectly by herself. After he finally agreed, Vanessa asked him to send him the list of ingredients they needed since he was the one cooking, as usual.

"Okay, I've got the Butacini, the tomatoes, onion and garlic. I just need bacon and we're done with the ingredients for the…Ama-what? Amatriciana sauce. Wow, Ferb, what a complicated guy you are. Well, you're the chef."

She decided to pick up some wine bottles before heading to the cash registers. When she got there, she saw a familiar face at the end of the aisle, it was bright orange haired woman on white leggings and red short dress. Vanessa looked at her from head to toe and knew exactly who she was by noticing her distinctive long neck, not to mention her little baby bump.

She approached her, "Candace?"

The woman turned around, "Vanessa! Hi!" she smiled widely and wrapped Vanessa with her arms in a greeting hug. "It's been so long."

"I know, right? Wow, look at you!" she said referring to Candace's pregnant belly, "You look very pretty."

"Aww, thanks, I'm almost four months."

"That's incredible, you guys should be very excited."

Candace laughed, "Yeah, and scared." She sighed, "It has its ups… and downs, but either way I can't wait to hold my baby in my arms."

"Do you already know what's it gonna be?"

"We don't, sometimes I'd like a girl, sometimes a boy, and Jeremy doesn't really care so, we kinda want to keep it a secret."

"Excuse me."

They both turned to see a young man who seemed to be a worker from the supermarket, "Can help you with something, ladies?" he asked politely.

"Yes! In fact you can," Candace said and pointed to the top shelf. "Can you please get me a bottle of that one over there?"

"Absolutely ma'am"

Vanessa stared shocked at her, "Uh, Candace?"

"Yeah?"

"Call me nosy, but I don't think pregnant women are allowed to drink alcohol." she said.

"Oh no, this is for Jeremy, this is his all-time favorite. He loves scotch."

"Oh, okay." Vanessa sighed, "Are you celebrating anything special?"

Candace smiled, "Today, many years ago, Jeremy and I had our first date and I want to surprise him with a special romantic dinner at home."

"Aww, that is so nice of you! He's gonna love it."

"I hope so, I just stopped by to get this and some-"

She stopped talking. In just a second, Candace's skin color was not as pink as it was, her eyelids were dropping and her body started swaying almost to the point of falling to the floor.

"Candace? Woah, Candace!"

Vanessa reacted immediately, she let go of her basket and ran to hold her pregnant friend by one of her arms. Candace's eyes opened at this and she held from her shopping cart to regain her balance. When she finally straightened up, she covered her eyes with her hand and rested her whole upper body against the cart, her legs were lightly shaking. "Oh, Jesus…" she whispered.

"Are you alright?!"

She breathed deeply twice and turned smiling to Vanessa, "Yeah… I'm alright. I just got a little dizzy, that's all."

"Do you want me to call somebody?" she asked.

"NO!" Candace cried, "No, it's fine. It's the pregnancy, this happens to me all the time. It'll be gone in a few minutes."

"Are you sure? You almost fainted."

"Nah, it wasn't that bad, believe me. Um…" she got in front of the shopping cart's handle, "I should probably hurry if I want to make it before Jeremy gets home. It was great seeing you, Vanessa, we should hang out some time."

Vanessa grinned, "Definitely! Good luck with your surprise and congratulations!"

"Thanks, bye."

She saw Candace walking away first at a slow pace, then leaving the aisle normally, like she was already recovering from the dizziness she had moments before. She had the feeling that Candace's hurry to leave had to do with something else other than Jeremy's surprise dinner, but at the same time she put herself on the situation and imagined how hurried she'd be if she was preparing something special for Ferb, which made her giggle bashfully. She picked up her basket and pulled her phone out to continue with the shopping list.

* * *

Phineas got out of his personalized bathroom wearing just a pair of boxers, he raised his wrist and pointed his watch directly to him, he pressed a button to make his watch release a green laser that was shooting towards his chest. When it ended, he was already fully dressed with a nice pair of pants and shirt. He turned around to look his reflection on the mirror and smirked over his looks and brilliant invention.

He went downstairs and found a glass of wine served on the coffee table. When he lived there, Ferb would always treat his brother as a guest whenever he was cooking dinner, which make him figure that the wine was for him. He took the wine and walked over to the pictures from the living room to look at them, he then felt his phone vibrate in his pants and pulled it out to see a text message notification on the screen.

_*I'm almost there! xoxo –Isabella*_

He smiled and headed to the kitchen, where he found Ferb and Vanessa joyfully making dinner together. "Hey guys, if you need any help, I'm right here."

They turned around, "Are you kidding?" she said, "You're our guest, and besides you already did enough with the room. We'll be right with you in a minute, okay? Dinner's almost ready."

Ferb nodded to him.

Phineas agreed and headed back to the living room, on his way he found Isabella walking into the apartment. "Isabella!" he exclaimed receiving her with a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

She laughed, "I love it when you do that. It makes me feel that you are happy to see me."

"I am happy to see you." He took his hand and guided her to the kitchen, "I couldn't wait for you to get here."

"Well, I'm here. Now, can you tell what the good news are?" she said.

"Sure, but why don't you say hi first?"

Isabella poked her head through the kitchen door and suddenly felt her breath was missing. She recognized the woman on Ferb's side without looking at her face, but couldn't find the proper explanation of why she was there. It made no sense on her head. She grabbed her boyfriend by his arm and almost dragged him to the living room. Phineas simply followed her without resisting even if he couldn't quite understand her reaction.

"Hey!" he said, stopping right in front of her, "Why did you do-"

"What is she doing here?!"

"Who? Vanessa?"

Isabella rolled her eyes, "Yes, Phineas! What is Vanessa doing here?!"

He smiled, "Well that's the surprise!"

"Wha-what?", she took a few steps back, "W-What do you mean?"

"I still don't know the details, but apparently Vanessa didn't have a boyfriend like we thought and she did move in with Ferb the night she was supposed to."

Isabella was listening to him with a worried look.

"And that's not the best part."

"Oh no…" she muttered.

"They're officially boyfriend and girlfriend!"

Isabella covered her mouth with her hand and took a seat on the nearest couch she could find. _'Ferb and Vanessa are…dating? That's impossible…' _she thought. She kept shaking her head trying to reason the situation, she kept seeing herself in front of her best friend, Gretchen, telling her it was the best time for her to make a move on Ferb a few hours before that. What was she supposed to tell her now that Ferb was dating the only girl he has ever loved in his life? It would destroy her. She stood up and started pacing from one side to another, repeatedly saying 'No'. Phineas just stared at her confused.

"Isabella, are you okay? I thought you'd be thrilled with all this."

She frowned, "How am I supposed to be thrilled?! Now that Vanessa accepted to be his girlfriend, there will be nothing that could separate Ferb from her."

Phineas' smile faded, his voice tone lowered too, "I don't understand. Why wouldn't you want them to be together? That is exactly what Ferb wanted."

"BECAUSE IT WAS GRETCHEN'S MOMENT!" she yelled.

"…what?" he muttered.

They went silent for a few seconds, Isabella looked at the pissed face of her boyfriend and almost felt regret for the words she said. She knew there was a fight between them coming, but she also knew exactly why she broke the promise she made to him. She was pissed too and she wasn't going to hold it in.

"You spoke to Gretchen, didn't you?" he asked.

She said nothing.

"You spoke to Gretchen even when you promised you wouldn't!"

"Yes, Phineas! I did!"

"Why?! Isabella you can't decide for Gretchen, or Ferb, if it's time for them to be together."

"Because she is my friend, Phineas! I care about her and if I know something that could make her happy then I'll tell her."

"Letting Gretchen know if Ferb is single or not it's not up to you, Isabella, not even if she's your best friend."

She crossed her arms, "Oh, really? So I'm not allowed to talk about my best friend's crush with her, but you are allowed to say whatever you want with yours."

"That's different, Isabella, and you know it. Ferb is not only my best friend, he is my brother."

"Oh please, Phineas. At least Gretchen and I would've become friends no matter what, Ferb is not even your real brother. In fact, he never would've appeared up in your life if your real father had never left."

Isabella noticed the power of her words right after she finished her sentence. She had no idea what came over her, she let anger take control just to win a discussion with her boyfriend, but she definitely chose the worst way to do it. What kind of girlfriend would use a very sad memory against him to make a point? She knew that talking about Phineas' real father was a something he always avoided, and she also knew the reason. She saw the look on Phineas' face and she felt her heart sink inside of her, he was looking at her with such pain and disappointment. She had never experienced something more hurtful than that. She kept questioning herself how she got the courage to say that to him, now she was regretting her words.

She gulped and gave some steps towards Phineas, "Oh my God, Phineas…I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

He closed his eyes and lowered his head.

"I don't know why I said that, I just-"

"So that's what you really think. I see."

"No! Phineas, I-" Isabella tried to hold him by his arms, but he stopped her before she could get any closer. His intense gaze penetrated hers like never before.

"I can't believe that after everything Ferb has done for you, for us…you could've expressed like that about him. When we started dating, you told me Ferb was the first one to notice your crush on me and that he promised you to keep it a secret. You told me it was Ferb the one that helped you a lot with me when we were kids, remember?"

She stepped back, tears began to form on the corner of her eyes.

"He has given you his unconditional friendship and support since the moment we met, and you… you don't even care about him. Ferb has been nothing but the best of friends with you and this is what he gets from you?" he said and shook his head, "I…I really thought you were different."

"Phineas, I didn't mean-" she started, her cheeks already dripping tears.

"Let me tell you something, Isabella. I don't care if that man left my mom, my sister and me. I'm glad he did, because he gave me the opportunity to be part of a real family, with a step-father and a step-brother."

"Phineas…"

"It's true. Ferb and I are not blood-related, like I've said before, a brother is a brother, but I couldn't have asked for a better one that Ferb."

"I know that!" she cried, "I know that, Phineas, I'm sorry! I didn't mean what I said, I was angry and-"

"Enough, Isabella." He said harshly.

She stopped talking.

"I've heard enough." He turned around and took a breath to calm down, "Excuse me with them, I'm leaving."

"What? Where are you going?"

"I don't know, I just can't stay here." He said and started walking away from her, but before he could get to the front door, the figure of his British step-brother appeared before him. Phineas faked a smile, "Hey bro…"

Ferb noticed a difference on his brother's voice tone, then he turned to Isabella just to find her wiping the tears from her eyes behind them.

"Listen buddy, I'm sorry but there's something I need to do and…I-I hope you understand, I have to go." He said and stormed out through the door.

Isabella covered her face with both hands and let her body fall to the couch, "This is my fault!" she cried.

Ferb ran and sat next to her putting his hands on her shoulders, he took out his handkerchief and gave it to her as she was calming down, "It will be alright."

"No, he'll never forgive me."

"Why? What happened, Isabella?" he asked.

She looked at him and couldn't find a nice way to explain what happened between Phineas and her. She felt so embarrassed and guilty with Ferb, he had no idea why they argued about and still he supported her and tried to make her feel better. How could she possibly forget what a good friend Ferb was to her? Phineas was right, she didn't have to throw Ferb to the river just to respect her friendship with Gretchen. She didn't know how to answer his question without making things worse, instead she just lowered her head and sighed. Afterwards Vanessa showed up in the living room with a tray on her hands.

"So dinner will take a little longer, until then, here are some appetizers and-"

She didn't finish talking when she saw Isabella's state. "Isabella?"

"Hi, Vanessa." She said softly.

"Are you okay?" she said then turned to her boyfriend, "Ferb, what happened?"

He shook his head.

Vanessa walked over to them and sat on the coffee table facing Isabella. She looked around the room, "Where's Phineas?"

He shrugged.

"He left, he's so mad at me that he can't even be under the same roof with me." She said and stood up wiping her tears with Ferb's hanky, "I can't just sit here and cry, I need to go find him."

"Isabella, wait!" Vanessa hurried to put herself in front of her to make her stop, "Listen, I know that you and Phineas might have things to talk about, but if you guys had a fight and he's so pissed like you said, don't you think it would be better to look for him when the two of you get a little relaxed?"

She saw the sincerity on Vanessa's eyes. Like Ferb, she was being friendly and supportive with her, it would be rude of her if she ignored those attitudes by leaving the apartment. "You are probably right." She said.

"Why don't you stay for a little longer? I'm sure Phineas will call you anytime."

"Sure."

Vanessa shared smiles with Ferb, she invited Izzy to sit back on the couch, "Can I get you anything? I think you need a drink."

She smiled, "Yeah, thanks…I'm sorry I ruined your dinner."

"Oh, don't be." She responded while grabbing a cup and serving wine to it, "We can do this any other night, and hopefully now Candace and Jeremy can join us too."

Ferb and Isabella looked at each other, "Candace and Jeremy?" she asked.

"Yeah, I saw her at the supermarket and invited her to come, but she already had plans for the night."

"WHAT?!"

Vanessa almost dropped the glass when she heard it, she turned around to find Ferb and Isabella standing in front of her both with their faces filled with worry.

"You saw Candace at the supermarket?!"

"Y-Yes, she was buying some things she needed to make Jeremy a surprise dinner. What's the big deal?"

Isabella turned to Ferb, "You haven't told her yet?!"

"What? That she's pregnant?" she asked, "Yeah! And she really is, even if she doesn't have a huge baby bump, she gets weak like she was about to give birth."

Isabella gasped, "Ferb, you need to call her! Make sure she is okay, quick!"

He went straightaway to the kitchen looking for his phone where he was charging it. Meanwhile, Isabella stayed in the living room with Vanessa, she took out her phone and dialing the one phone number she knew by memory. Before she could make the call, Vanessa placed one hand on her shoulder to catch her attention.

"Isabella, I feel like I'm missing something here. What is going on?"

She looked at her, putting her phone on her ear, "Candace has a very high-risk pregnancy, she was told by the doctor not to leave bed until the pregnancy is over, no exception. If you saw her at the supermarket and she got weak like you said, there's a possibility something could've happened to her after your encounter."

Vanessa's eyes widened, "Oh my God, I had no idea! Who are you calling?"

"I'm trying to call Phineas, but the line's busy."

Ferb got back to the living room with his phone on his ear as well, he was scratching the back of his head in sign of nervousness.

"She's not answering?" Vanessa asked.

"No," he said, "I called her three times already and nothing."

"Phineas is not answering his phone either, what should we do?!"

He put his phone back in his pocket and took the car keys from the key holder next to the front door.

Vanessa walked over to him, "Ferb, where are you going?"

"I'm going to find Phineas, then to Candace's house. We need to know if she's okay."

He opened the door but never gave one step forward. The three of them stood still with a mix of confusion and uncertainty on their faces, before them they found the back figure of a red-haired guy standing on the doorway, he was on the phone.

"Don't worry, Mom, I'll tell him. Thank you for letting me know."

Ferb got closer to him and placed his hand on his shoulder to turn him around. "Phineas?"

When he turned completely, they saw soft bags formed under Phineas' eyes, along with tears on the edge of spilling.

"Why are you crying?" he asked, but got no answer from his shocked brother. He raised his voice, "Phineas, what happened?"

"It's Candace."

His heart skipped a beat.

"Mom called me from the hospital. Candace had a car accident, she and the baby are in danger."


End file.
